Beware of Darkness
by Falcons-Tears
Summary: Sequel to Behind Blue Eyes. Currently discontinued, even though I'm thinking of putting up one final chapter... that's why I put the status on complete
1. Shadows

Author's note: Hey everybody, here it comes… the sequel to Behind Blue Eyes. I hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed Behind Blue Eyes… if you haven't read Behind Blue Eyes it would be wise to at least read through it so that you know who Marissa, Alexandria and Martha are because in this story there will at least be one more original character joining the gang…

Well I'm really sad to hear that Randy behaved like that and I hope he and the other wrestlers will work through it when he comes back after his 60 days leave... well in my fic Randy isn't like that (but I guess those of you who have read Behind Blue Eyes actually know that) and since this is fiction anyway I hope people won't be mad at me that I'm making Randy like I want him to be (character wise I mean)

And now enjoy my new story.

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**Zanderlover: I'll respond to your reviews and your e-mails soon... (my programm messed up a lot of my last mails so I hope I reach you) but I wanted to tell you that I really really missed you and I'm so glad to hear from you again 'big hugs'**

But now onto the story...

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Oh yeah: The parts in **bold** are again the way fans see the show on TV 

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me well except the ones you don't recognise

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Summary: Shawn and Marissa are married and think they couldn't be happier. Chris and Martha are also starting to slowly admit what they feel for each other.  
Alexi and Randy are also happy. What will happen when suddenly shadows of the past are coming back to hunt them, especially Randy? Will the Legend Killer and Shawn's daughter make it through? And will Randy's friends be there to help him? Will he let them help? 

All these questions will be answered in:  
**Beware of Darkness

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**

**Chapter 1: Shadows

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**

"Come on RKO. You need to see a doctor. This can't go on much longer." John Cena told his best friend exasperated. The two were sitting in a quiet corner in the locker room and he had been arguing with Randy for over ten minutes now to get him to see a doctor.

"No… I'm not going. It's just the stress John. All that has happened in the last weeks has taken its toll and in addition to that coming back to RAW, fighting regularly isn't a piece of cake either. I'm just not used to that anymore. And besides that we have a match to fight in a few minutes so there's no way I'm going to see a doctor now when there's nothing wrong with me."  
"Randy, who do you think you're talking to? I'm just not some casual bystander. I'm your best friend and I know you well enough to know that it's not just the stress. You're always getting these headaches lately. And there's either something wrong with you or you are keeping something big from everybody else. So you either tell me what's wrong or I'm knocking you out, dragging you to see Martha."

Randy sighed. He knew that it was no use to argue further with the Dr. of Thuganomics because he definitely would stay true to his word.

So he looked at John but then lowered his eyes. He couldn't bear to tell John while he was looking at him.

Before he could say what was on his mind however, a voice suddenly called out to them.

"Hey Randy, John, are you ready for the match?" Jason Resso better known as Christian asked. He'd be one part of the tag team Randy and John would be fighting tonight. Tyson Tomko, Christian's tag team partner was already standing in the door to the locker room, waiting for the three.

"Is it time already?" Randy asked and rubbed his temple. His voice sounded awfully tired.  
"Yes. Alexi is already waiting outside. In about five minutes the match starts."  
"Oh okay…" John was equally surprised. In his little argument with Randy he hadn't noticed how time went by.

"Well then guys, let's go and put on a good show for the audience." Randy said cheerfully and walked out of the locker room, the prospect of seeing his girlfriend cheering him up considerably.

John shook his head a little amused. It was amazing how just the mentioning of Alexi brought a smile on Randy's lips.

"Hey John, are you dreaming?" Christian's voice brought the wrestler out of his thoughts.  
"Sorry, just spacing out for a second." He called after Christian, who was already at the door.

John quickly shouldered his championship belt and then followed his opponents for the night.

While he was walking over to Christian and Tyson, Tomko asked: "Is Randy okay John? He looks exhausted."  
John shrugged with a sigh. "I can't really tell. His headaches are getting worse but he claims that it's only because he isn't used to all the tour stress anymore."

"And you believe that?" Jason wanted to know.

"Not a word. Something's bothering him and I will find out what it is…" John promised.

"Let us know if we can help." Tyson demanded.

John nodded thankfully. "Thanks… actually there's something you could do. Convince him to come to the club with us tonight; perhaps Alexi and I together can get him to talk then."  
"He doesn't want to come? But he seemed ecstatic when we talked about it a few days ago."  
"RKO was back then but he told me earlier that something's come up and he can't come with us tonight. Alexi and I didn't have much luck to convince him to come. But perhaps he will come if you ask him."  
Christian nodded. "Okay. We'll see what we can do." He wasn't very hopeful though because why should he succeed where Randy's girlfriend and best friend had failed.  
"Thanks." John said again and looked around in the hall to make sure that Randy hadn't heard what he had told Christian and Tyson but Alexi and Randy were nowhere to be seen and John guessed that they had sized the moment to have a few minutes for themselves.

Christian, Tyson and John walked down to the entrance to the ramp and 'high fived' each other before falling into in ring mode, just in case a cameraman would zoom in on them.

Suddenly Randy and Alexi appeared out of nowhere, walking hand in hand towards them.

John realised that Randy looked a lot better than he had a few minutes ago in the locker room.

When the couple arrived at the group, Alexi gave Randy a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Show them what the Legend Killer is all about." She told her boyfriend.  
"I will love…" The young Orton promised before falling into Legend Killer mode.

Alexandria went to stand beside John since she was his valet.

* * *

Alexandria Reed-Michaels was sitting in the girls' locker room to get ready for John's and Randy's match. Since she was Cena's manager she had to be present at ringside. 

It was her fifth appearance on a RAW show but she was still nervous even though she was slowly getting used to it. The reaction of the fans had been positive so far and she got along with almost all wrestlers in the roster even though she avoided going near Triple H, Ric Flair or Sid Eudy if she didn't have to.

With a deep sigh she looked at herself in the mirror to check how she looked.

Her hair was done in a simple ponytail and she wore a black tank top with the chain-gang logo on it along with a jeans skirt that reached just above her knee. Black high heel boots completed her attire.

It wasn't the most comfortable outfit she'd ever worn but it was part of her role and she actually liked the top. It had been John's welcome present on the second show she had appeared in.

Problem was she couldn't really concentrate on tonight's show.

Randy was constantly running through her head. Her boyfriend had been really depressed in the last few days and Alexandria had no idea what was bothering him. The worst part was that he wasn't talking to her. He had even cancelled going to the club with the guys tonight even though Alexi had really been looking forward to a night of fun without having to worry about getting up early the next morning.

_ Looks like it won't happen… _ She thought with a sigh.

_ Hopefully John can find out what's wrong with Randy… _

A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts.

When she turned her head she saw Christy Hemme standing behind her.

"You need to get ready Alexi. It's almost time." The redhead told her.

"Thanks Christy. I'm on my way to get John and Randy."

"Good luck for the match tonight… even though we all know what's going to happen."

Alexi laughed a little. "Yeah… we all know what's going to happen…" She replied and stood up from the chair she had been sitting on before. She couldn't say she really liked what would be happening tonight and was glad that it was just a show and not reality.

"See you tonight Alexi." Christy called after her.

"Yeah till later." She nodded even though she wasn't sure if she would join the others at the club when Randy wasn't going.

But right now she didn't need to worry about because she had a job to do. Alexi could worry about her boyfriend again when the live show was over and she was back in her hotel room.

Alexi put a grin on her face and walked over to the locker room of the wrestlers.

In front of the door she saw Christian and Tyson standing, going over the upcoming match again.

"Hey Alexi." Jason had spotted her first and waved.

"Hey Jason, hey Tyson." Alexi greeted and walked over to them.

"Are John and Randy still in there?"  
"Yeah… I'm going to get them for you."  
"That's not necessary. I can get them myself."  
"We know you can but Vicious is in there." Tyson explained.

"Okay, you go in there to get them Christian." Alexi gave in.

"See…" He grinned and opened the locker room door to go in there.

It didn't take long and Randy walked out the door.

For a moment, Alexi was a little shocked to see Randy. He looked pale and tired, even more than he had done when they had had breakfast together.

She decided not to comment on it but instead kissed him on her cheek.

"Hey handsome." She greeted.

"Hey love… come on we still have got a few minutes until the match starts and I need some fresh air."

"But…" Tyson started.

"Don't worry big man… we'll be back before you know it." Randy cut him off and took Alexi's hand softly and started to walk down the hall.

When they were in a quiet corner, Randy pulled Alexandria in his arms and hugged her tightly.

Alexandria was a little bit surprised at that. It was not that she didn't enjoy the embrace but it wasn't like Randy at all.

"Are you okay Randy? Didn't you want to go out for fresh air?" She questioned.

Randy let go of her and smiled at her.

"Actually that was just to get away from Tyson to have you alone for me for a few minutes." The young Orton said with a bright grin that made Alexi forget how pale he had looked earlier. The two kissed tenderly and when they separated Alexi was a little out of breath.

"I have to say I like the way your mind works." Alexandria told her boyfriend with a grin.

"And I'm glad to hear that." Randy replied and brushed a strain of hair that had gotten out of Alexi's ponytail out of her face.

"As much as I enjoy this I guess we should go back before they sent a search party for us." Alexandria reasoned and Randy nodded.

Hand in hand the two walked back to Tyson. John and Christian had joined him by now.

Alexandria gave Randy a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Show them what the Legend Killer is all about." She demanded with a grin.  
"I will love…" Randy promised and to Alexi's amazement he changed into Legend Killer mode almost immediately and had that arrogant grin on his face.

The girl shook her head for a second before she went to stand beside John, who put a friendly arm around her.

"So Ms. Michaels, ready to put on a great show?" Cena asked.

"Yeah of course John." Alexi had barely time to answer to John's question before Christian and Tyson were called out.

"Let's go." John told her and took her hand when he and Randy were called out.

The Legend Killer looked at Alexandria's and John's joined hands for a moment and he knew that he would've been jealous if it was someone else than John holding Alexi's hand but he knew he could trust John. He was his best friend after all.

He quickly pushed this thought of his mind and rubbed his temple for a second before following John and Alexi down the ramp towards the ring.

* * *

"**And making their way to the ring with a combined weight of 485 pounds: the current WWE Champion John Cena and the Legend Killer Randy Orton." Lillian announced and the fans started to cheer for them.**

**Tyson Tomko and Christian were already waiting in the ring and Christian was staring at Alexandria, who was walking beside John with a wide grin on her face.**

**When John and Alexandria arrived in the ring, John held the robes open so that Alexi could get into the ring, then he followed himself and turned around in the ring, with Alexi raising his arm into the air.**

**Randy was doing his usual in-ring poses.**

**When he was standing on the ropes with his arms spread and his trademark grin on his face, Christian ran over to him and pulled him down from the ropes and started to punch him mercilessly. The referee quickly signed for the bell to ring and the fight started.

* * *

**

John had a close eye on Randy throughout the whole match. The Legend Killer wasn't as energetic as he normally was and he seemed really distracted.

Cena winced when one of Tyson's punches hit Randy in the face because the young man wasn't able to get out of the way in time.

Orton fell flat down on the mat and didn't move for a moment and John had the uneasy feeling that he wasn't pretending.

Tyson seemed to notice that too because for a moment he was just standing there looking at Randy in concern, considering if he had really hurt the young man.

But then the young Orton slowly got back on his feet but he staggered and this time John wasn't sure if he was pretending or if he was really dizzy.

* * *

"**Oh and what a cheap chair shot from Tyson against Cena. Now he's tagging Christian in, who has an easy pin against Cena since the referee hasn't seen Tyson's chair shot."  
"Yeah and Randy's still out cold too after that nasty fall out of the ring." Coach agreed with Styles words.**

"**I guess there's nothing that will be stopping Christian and Tyson from winning the match." He added.**

**And indeed seconds later Christian pinned John, claiming another victory after using foul tricks.**

**The fans booed as much as they could but that didn't stop Christian and Tyson Tomko from celebrating.**

**Alexi crawled into the ring, kneeling beside John, trying to wake him up since he was still out cold.**

**Suddenly a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly to her feet.**

**Alexandria looked up with frightened eyes when she saw Christian standing over her with that smirk on his face. And before she knew what was happening he pulled her in his arms and kissed her.**

**Alexandria struggled and tried to get out of his grip, slapping him on the cheek hard.**

**Christian immediately let go of her because he was so surprised at her action.**

**Tyson however reacted and grabbed Alexandria's arm again, preventing her from fleeing.**

**Meanwhile John and Randy had started to stir.**

"**Let's go." Christian mouthed towards Tomko and grabbed Alexi's hands, dragging her out of the ring and up the ramp towards the backstage area. The audience in the hall screamed even louder for Randy and John to get up.**

"**Help… John… Randy…" Alexi screamed, trying to be heard over the audience.**

"**What the hell is Christian doing there Coach?" Styles questioned totally confused and shocked.**

"**It looks like he's kidnapping Shawn Michael's daughter… this would be the perfect moment for the Heartbreak Kid to come to her rescue…"  
"I know Coach but as we've seen earlier… Shawn isn't here tonight." Styles said and looked at the scenario with worried eyes. **

"**Look Joey… Randy and John are back on their feet."  
And indeed they were. Randy was just getting up and John was already out of the ring, charging after Christian, ignoring the head wound the chair shot had given him.**

**Tyson and Christian thought it best to hurry up but Alexandria was slowing them down considerably and before they knew what was happening, John had reached them and knocked Christian away from Alexi, who quickly fled down towards the ring again to get the farthest away from Tyson and Christian as possible.**

**Tyson wanted to run after her but Randy stopped him by giving him a not so gentle RKO.**

**When Tyson looked up, he saw that Randy was rubbing his temple again. Staying in his role he kicked Randy's legs out from under him, sending the Legend Killer crashing onto the ramp.**

"**Ah…" Tyson could hear Randy's pained cry and then the young Orton didn't move.**

**Christian had meanwhile gotten rid of John and hurried into the backstage area. Tyson quickly followed.**

**John kneeled down besides the young Orton, gently tapping his cheek.**

**It was Randy's role to pretend to be knocked out but John really didn't like how pale Randy looked.**

**Alexandria came up the ramp, just as Randy began to stir again. **

**She had gotten a microphone and John's belt. The look on her face was still frightened.**

**John took the microphone hung the belt over his shoulder and crouched down beside Randy again. The Legend Killer was slowly beginning to sit up.**

"**Are you okay man?" John questioned, sticking to his text.**

**Randy just nodded and got to his feet. **

**John stood on the ramp, a hand around Alexi's shoulder and the girl clung to him still a little pale.**

**Cena stared into the direction Christian and Tomko had disappeared.**

"**Listen good Christian. You've crossed the line here Captain Charisma… You and your goon Tomko have hurt my tag-team partner and more important you've hurt Alexi… and I'll hunt you down for that, count on it… and I'll make sure you won't get your hands on her ever again. So watch out because you won't know when I'm going to strike."**

**With that John threw the mic away and his theme song was played.**

**With a satisfied look on his face he asked Alexandria to help her with Randy, who had steadied himself against one of those fences they put up to hold the fans back.**

**He put one of Randy's arms around his shoulder and Alexi took Randy's other arm, slinging it around her small shoulders too.**

**So the three walked backstage with the cheers of the audience following them until they were out of sight.

* * *

**

Jason Resso and Tyson Tomko had waited behind the scenes for Randy, Alexi and John.

They just came in with Alexi and John still supporting Randy.

As soon as the cameras were out, John and Alexi let go of Randy again.

"Man that was awesome… it looked so real the way you guys acted… and Alexi really looked terrified of me." Christian was still ecstatic.

John and Tyson grinned at each other. They too had really enjoyed the match because they both knew they had put on a good show for the audience.

"Woah… Randy are you okay?" Alexi's frantic voice brought them out of their thoughts.

John turned around and looked at his best friend in concern. The Legend Killer was even paler than before the match and was constantly rubbing his temple.

He now looked up, a small smile on his face to try to reassure Alexi.

"I'm okay love, just a little dizzy."  
"Are you sure? I mean you're as white as a sheet." Tyson stated.  
"Really guys… I just need to sit down for a moment." The young Orton replied and took a casual step towards a nearby chair.

He swayed on his feet and John quickly reached out to steady his best friend.

"I guess… I'm not okay… I think I'm going to be sick." Randy slowly managed to get out.

"Randy, come on man, let's get you to the doctor…" Cena said and motioned for Christian to help him, supporting Randy.

"Okay…" Was all Randy managed to get out before everything went black.

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to be continued if you want me to  



	2. Stress

Author's note: Hey everybody... thank you all for the nice reviews 'hugs' and I'm glad that you already enjoy the new story... so because you want it so much here comes the second chapter... enjoy reading it and please review because I always love it when you review to tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: None of the characters you recognise belong to me. The one's you don't recognise belong to me and please don't borrow them without permission

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**Chapter 2: Stress

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**

John suddenly felt Randy's dead weight and saw that his best friend had lost consciousness.

"Oh shit…" John exclaimed and gently lowered the Legend Killer to the ground.

"Go and get a doctor." Cena yelled at Tomko, who had an incredibly guilty look on his face.

The man did as he was told and ran quickly down the hall.

"Hey guys, what's going on here?" Batista had suddenly appeared beside them.

He had been on the way to his match when he saw John kneeling on the ground beside an unconscious Randy.

"I've no idea… He just fainted." Alexi explained and her voice was a little shaky and her eyes were fixed on the still form of the Legend Killer.

John gently tapped his best friend's cheek.  
"Hey Randy, come on, wake up." He said gently.

Indeed the young Orton began to stir.

"What happened?" He groaned and tried to sit up.

"No, you will lie down until Martha has checked on you." John told him sternly and gently pushed him back to lie on the ground.

"But that's not very comfortable and besides it's a little embarrassing." Randy mumbled.

Alexandria crouched down beside her boyfriend and gently stroked his cheek.

"Please Randy. You're tired and you just fainted. Let Martha check on you. None of the guys will laugh at you because you're sick."  
Randy was about to protest but when he saw the fear and concern in Alexandria's eyes he just nodded.

Right at this moment Martha came running down the hall, with Tyson on her heels.

"What happened?" She questioned and crouched down beside the Legend Killer. John quickly moved away to give Martha enough room while he explained: "He fainted right after the match."

"Can you sit up?" Dr. Cormela asked the young Orton.

"Yeah. I guess so." Slowly and with Alexi's aid Randy managed to come into a sitting position and Marissa started checking on him.

"So, were you feeling sick earlier or just after the match? Any other problems? Headaches? Dizziness? Trouble sleeping?"  
Randy carefully shook his head. "No, I'm totally okay. I guess I just hit the ramp a little harder than I intended."  
Cena groaned. "That's a lie Randy." He said simply.

"I'm not lying John." The Legend Killer looked at his best friend with pleading eyes.

_ Sorry Randy, I'm normally not one to break your confidence but you've really worried me here, bro… _John thought and sent Randy an apologetic look.

"He is lying. He's been having headaches almost every morning for a few weeks now and he even threw up twice yesterday."  
"John…" Randy exclaimed and glared at his best friend.

"Sorry RKO but I won't stay back and watch you ruining your health." John said without pity.

"But there's nothing really wrong with me. It's just the stress…" Randy argued.

"Okay, stop that you two." Martha quickly cut in when she saw that John was about to argue back.

"It won't get us anywhere when you two start a fight here. Randy needs his rest and so I want to get him to my office to check if everything is okay with him." She said sternly and her voice told the others that she wouldn't hear any protests.

The young Orton gave in and reached out with his hand.

John took the hint and pulled him slowly to his feet. As soon as Randy was standing, he swayed on his feet again.

Christian quickly helped John steadying the Legend Killer.

So the three walked over to Martha's office, Randy having his eyes on the ground the whole time not daring to look into the eyes of the Wrestlers they were passing.

"Hey what's wrong with you Randy?" A voice suddenly called.  
"Go away Hunter." The young Orton groaned. Triple H was the last person he wanted to see right now.

John had looked up when he had heard Hunter talking to them and for a moment he thought he had seen the Cerebral Assassin glancing at Randy with concern.

_ Nah… I must've imagined that. Triple H has spent the last months to make Randy's life a living hell… so why should he be concerned now? It's perhaps just because I'm concerned about him so I think everybody else should be concerned too. _

Alexi quickly ducked behind Tyson Tomko so that Triple H wouldn't see her but she glanced at Randy with concern. She was very worried about him. In fact she had been worried about him for the last days but today had just made it worse.

Hunter decided to not press the issue because he didn't want to risk a scene and he was outnumbered here so he just walked past them without another word.

When they arrived at Martha's office, John and Jason helped Randy sitting down on the bed in the room before Martha shooed them all out so that she could examine Randy in peace.

* * *

Randy sat on the bed and watched the door close behind his girlfriend with a sigh. Martha walked over to him with a serious expression on her face. 

"So how do you feel Randy? Still feeling sick?" She questioned, all businesslike.

"A little but it is a lot better than it was a few minutes ago." Randy answered truthfully and rubbed his temple because he knew there was no point in denying it.

Martha was good at what she did and she would find out anyway.

Dr. Cormela walked over to him and checked his pulse.

"How long has this been going on?" She asked.

"What? The dizziness or the headaches?" Randy wanted to know.

"Both. And then you tell me why you didn't come to see me earlier."

"Well… The dizziness really started after the match and I guess it's because my fall was a little harder than normal."

Martha nodded. She believed the young Orton, at least in this point. "From what I can see you have a mild concussion. Nothing serious, but you need to take it easy today and tomorrow." She told the Legend Killer. "And I'm going to give you something so that you won't feel sick." Dr. Cormela explained and prepared a glass of water and mixed it with a little of a certain medicine and then handed it to the young man.  
"Thanks Martha." Randy smiled a little and drank the medicine, made a face in disgust and shuddered a little. "That tastes horrible."  
Dr. Cormela laughed. "Well it's supposed to make you feel better and not to taste like a strawberry milkshake."

"Okay… I agree with you there." The young Orton admitted.

He got off from the bed and was on his way out of the room when Martha called after him.

"Stop right there Randy, we're not finished here."  
Randy flinched a little and stopped.

_ Damn. I thought she had forgotten about the headaches. _ He cursed in his thoughts.

"We haven't talked about the headaches." Dr. Cormela said, confirming Randy's thoughts.

With a sigh the young Orton sat down in a chair that was beside the door.

"So how long did you have these headaches?" She questioned, looking at the wrestler with question in her eyes.

"For about five weeks." Randy admitted, looking a little sheepishly and a little guilty.  
Martha's eyes widened for a second. "And you didn't think to come to me to tell me?"

Randy shook his head a little, fighting another wave of dizziness when he did it.

"Actually… well… I often have headaches when I'm really stressed and they always vanish when I've had a good run in the morning. So I didn't really think anything of it. But the last days they've gotten worse and they're almost constantly there… sometimes more and sometimes less." The Legend Killer admitted.

With a sigh Martha walked over to the young man.

"I don't want to worry you but I'm a little concerned for your health after what you've just told me… and I'd like to run some tests just to make sure that it's really just the stress."

"Okay… but Martha please do me a favour and don't tell the others about it… at least not until you have the results. I don't want to worry them, especially Lexi. I mean you know that the last month weren't a piece of cake for her and she finally can put that all behind her… so the last thing I want to do is to worry her for nothing."  
When she looked into Randy's pleading blue eyes, Dr. Cormela couldn't do anything except nod.

"Okay. But as soon as I have the results and you know what's wrong you're going to tell her okay?"

"Deal." Randy agreed and the two shook hands.

"I need a blood sample so that I can run the tests."  
The Legend Killer extended his arm and Martha quickly took the blood sample.

When she was finished, she gave Randy some tablets. "Just in case the headache doesn't get better… take one in the morning when you wake up with a headache. It will help you. And I want to see you here the day after tomorrow if it isn't any better until then and the pills don't help."

"Okay." Randy agreed and got up from the chair.

"Thanks Martha." He said and shook her hand.

"It's my job Randy and I'll call you as soon as I've gotten the results."  
"Okay… oh by the way, how are things going between you and Chris?" Randy questioned with a mischievous grin.

Dr. Cormela blushed and pointed towards the door.

"Out… now!" she demanded.

"That was answer enough. See you…"  
And with that he nearly fled out of the room. He was a little surprised to see Alexi, John, Tyson, Christian and Batista sitting there, waiting for him.

Before he could say something, Alexi was already by his side.

"Are you okay? What did Martha say?" She wanted to know.

* * *

When Dr. Cormela had shooed them out of the room, Alexandria protested at first but she knew that it was for the best since she had been spending enough time in the hospital in the last months to know that. 

Now she was pacing in front of the room, waiting for any news.

"Alexi, just sit and calm down." John told her a little exasperated.

"You're driving me crazy."

Shawn's daughter reluctantly sat down between John and Christian.

"Sorry. I'm just worried."  
"So am I Alexi but pacing won't help it." John told her and laid a reassuring arm around her shoulder.

"I'm sure it's nothing serious Alexi. He's just tired and the fall onto the ramp didn't help his headache." He explained.

Alexandria leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I hope so." She just said.

"It's my fault." Tyson suddenly said and startled Christian, John and Alexandria with it.

"Why is it your fault Tyson?" Jason asked his tag-team partner.

"I should have been more careful when I kicked him onto the ramp. He hit it pretty hard and I guess that's why he's feeling sick right now."

John quickly shook his head. "Nah… I doubt it's because of your attack Tyson. It has perhaps been the final straw but Randy has been feeling sick the last few days and so I guess it was for the best so he will finally go to see a doctor."  
"So that was what you've been arguing about earlier in the locker room?" Batista suddenly said and appeared beside them.

Cena was a little surprised and looked up.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" He questioned  
"I was standing near you but you were so absorbed in your conversation that you didn't even notice me." The Animal explained. He had already finished his match.

"What are you doing here?" Tyson wanted to know.

"Oh well, my shoulder started to hurt after the match and I guess it's better to let Martha check on it before it gets serious." Dave explained.

"I see…" John was about to say more when the door to Martha's office opened and Randy walked out. He was still a little pale but at least he was steady on his feet.

Alexandria was at his side immediately.

"Are you okay? What did Martha say?" She wanted to know.

Randy smiled at her and gave her a quick peck on her cheek.

"It's as I've said. I'm just under a lot of stress and need some sleep and then I'll be as good as new." He explained. Alexi sighed in relief but John looked at his best friend with doubt in his eyes.

_ There's still something bothering him and judging how he looks it's something serious… _ The Dr. of Thuganomics concluded.

"So you won't be coming to the club with us tonight?" Christian questioned.

"Nope, Martha told me to go back to my hotel room and get some rest but you can all still go if you want. You don't need to cancel your plans just because of me." Randy explained.  
"I'm going to stay with you Randy." Alexandria immediately told her boyfriend.

Randy embraced her tightly. "You don't have to Lexi. I know how excited you were when we made the plans to go to that club so I'm sure John will be happy to escort you around."

Alexi quickly shook his head. "No it's really okay. I wanted to go out because I wanted to spend some time with you so I guess we can have a nice evening and perhaps watch some DVD's." She suggested.

The Legend Killer smiled at her and was about to reply when suddenly a voice called out to them.

"Ah there you are Randy. I've been looking for you for a while. Here's somebody who wants to see you."

Randy and the others present turned around to see Vince McMahon walking towards them.

John's eyes widened a little when he saw who was with him. He quickly glanced at Randy and saw that the Legend Killer had let go of Alexi and had clenched his fist, trying to keep his face neutral.

_ That's what's been bothering him… _ The Dr. of Thuganomics quickly realised.

"Randy. It has been so long since I've last seen you. Isn't it great that we're going to work together from now on? It's going to be just like old times." A voice called out and the person walked towards Randy, hugging him tightly.

"Hi Dad…" Randy said and hugged his dad back.

_ Is this just me or is the atmosphere suddenly a little awkward? _ Batista thought. He had completely forgotten that he had been here to see Martha.

He looked around and saw that Tyson and Christian had walked away probably thinking that it was better to leave now.

Vince just smiled when father and son hugged. Alexi looked at Cowboy Bob Orton with interest and a small smile on her face.

But what Batista found really unsettling was that John looked like he was about to start either screaming or hurting Bob Orton.

His lips were pressed together and his hands were clenched into fists.

When the Animal looked at Randy, he saw that the Legend Killer had an awkward smile on his face and Batista wasn't sure if it was a happy one.

Father and son separated and Cowboy Bob looked at all present.

"Don't you want to introduce me to your friends?" Bob questioned.

The Legend Killer sighed. "Dad, this is Dave Batista. And I guess you remember John."

"Hey there John, I haven't seen you in a while."

"Hi Bob…" John said simply and Batista noticed that it wasn't an exactly friendly hello for John's best friend's father.

"Hi Mr. Orton, nice to meet you." Batista told Randy's father and shook the hand the older Orton offered.

Alexandria had been standing in the background and had waited for Randy to introduce her.

When he didn't, Alexi stepped forward and extended her hand.

"Hi Mr. Orton. I'm Alexandria Reed-Michaels. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello there Alexandria. You don't happen to be related to Shawn Michaels?" He questioned.  
"Actually she's his daughter… and she's my girlfriend." Randy quickly cut in, laying an arm around her shoulder again.

Bob Orton just raised an eyebrow in question.

"Since when do you have a girlfriend son, and why didn't you tell me about it?" The man questioned and smiled at Alexandria.

"It's nice to meet you Alexandria." He said in a sweet voice.

Randy just rolled his eyes at that.

"Excuse me now dad, the doctor has told me that I need to get some rest." And with that he walked down the hall without another glance at John, Alexi or any of the others.

Batista watched him go with wonder and Vince asked: "What's wrong with Randy?"

"Um… well… he fell a little hard and I guess he's still feeling sick." John quickly explained, trying to stop the others from wondering too much about Randy's sudden exit.

"I see. Tell him from me to get well soon and tell him that I want to see him tomorrow so that we can go over the new storyline."  
"We will Vince." Alexi replied and John nodded.

"Good, well then, see you all later. I need to show Bob around."  
"Goodbye Mr. Orton. It was nice to meet you." Alexandria told Randy's father with a polite smile.

"Call me Bob. And it was a pleasure to meet you too. See you all later."

And with that Vince and Bob walked down the hall.

"Would you two excuse me now too? I want to see if Randy really is okay." Alexandria looked at John and Batista questioningly.

"Of course Alexi we'll excuse you. So I guess you won't come to the club with us tonight?"  
"Nah… I want to keep Randy company and I want to make sure that he really is getting the rest he needs."  
"Bye then. See you tomorrow for breakfast." Batista told the girl.

"Bye." Alexandria waved and then she walked into the direction Randy had gone, leaving John and Dave alone.

As soon as Alexandria was out of earshot, Batista turned to the current WWE-Champion.

"So, care to explain this behaviour?" He wanted to know.

"What behaviour?" John questioned and looked at the Animal confused.   
Batista sighed. "What do you think which behaviour I mean? I mean why Randy stormed off, leaving his father in the middle of a hallway after just seeing him again after over a year. And why did you look like you'd either strangle or shoot Cowboy Bob Orton if it hadn't been for all of us as witnesses?"

"I did?" John looked at Dave innocently.

"Stop that Cena. You've given me that look before and it has always meant that you're lying. So what's going on here? Something's definitely wrong between Randy and his father and I want to know what. I can see it's bothering him and that worries me."

John sighed. He could see that Batista was angry with him and it was never a good idea to piss off the Animal.

"Dave I wish I could tell you but I just can't. I made a promise a long time ago and I can't just break Randy's confidence." Cena told Batista, remembering a similar conversation a few weeks ago at the hospital when Shawn and Randy had had their fallout and Batista had been wondering what was going on between Randy and his father.

John had refused to tell Batista back then what was wrong and he refused to tell him now even though he wanted nothing more than for somebody to know.

_ Wow… I've never seen that look in John's eyes… _ Dave thought and the way this conversation went did nothing to assure him, quite the contrary it worried him even more.

"I understand that John, but…" Batista started but John quickly cut him off.

"No buts Dave. I can't tell you and that's final." Cena told him sternly.

"By the way, weren't you here to see Dr. Cormela?"  
"Oh yeah… I nearly forgot." The Animal indeed had forgotten why he was here.

"See… well then see you tonight at the club. And I really hope your shoulder is okay." John said quickly, waved once and walked down the hall, leaving Batista standing there with confusion and worry in his eyes.

The Animal shook his head with a sigh, knocked against Martha's office door and after her 'come in', entered to get his shoulder checked out.

_ Well that means I need to have an eye on Randy and I will find out what's wrong sooner or later.

* * *

to be continued...  
_


	3. Managing

Author's note: Hey guys... sorry it took me so long to update the next part but the last few weeks have been hell for me and I just couldn't get my mind on writing... but finally here it comes and I hope you enjoy it... 'hugs all'

Disclaimer: Randy and the other wrestlers don't belong to me... only the characters you don't recognise from the shows are mine...

Oh yeah: something in i_talics_ and **bold** means that somebody is on the other end of the phone in this chapter

**Chapter 3: Managing

* * *

**

Randy walked aimlessly around the arena after quickly changing from his in-ring clothes into a pair of jeans and a shirt.

Sure Martha had told him to get some rest but the last thing he wanted was to be alone in his hotel room where he had the time and the silence to think about everything that had happened today.

"Hey there Legend Killer, feeling better?" A voice suddenly called after him.

With a groan Randy stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Triple H. For a second he really considered that Hunter was stalking him but then he found his own thought absurd. It was just another coincidence.

"You're the last person I'd tell Hunter." He said, trying to sound as confident as possible.

"Oh I'm hurt… wasn't I your mentor not so long ago?" Triple H replied with a smirk.

"The important word here is 'was'. So stop acting concerned and just get to the point why you're here because I want to get back to the hotel as soon as possible and not waste my time with you." Randy's voice was all but friendly.

Hunter held his hands up in defence.

"Even though it's hard to believe I really just wanted to know if you're okay." Triple H said but Randy's sceptical look told the Game that the young wrestler didn't believe a word he was saying.

"Yeah right, and Sid Eudy's a tame lamb all of sudden." The sarcasm was evident in his voice.

"And now excuse me. I want to go back to the hotel." Without another word Randy walked down the hall, leaving Hunter standing in the middle of the hallway, looking after the young man with a mixed expression on his face.

_ What the hell was that? _ Randy wondered while finally leaving the arena.

He had given up figuring Hunter out a long time ago but this was unusual even for Triple H standards.

"Damn… just when I think my life is back to normal there's something thrown in my way that makes matters worse."

"I seriously hope you're not talking about me." Another voice called from behind and Randy quickly put a smile on his face before turning around to see his girlfriend standing behind him.

The young Orton quickly closed the distance between them and embraced the girl, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Actually you're the best that has been happening to me for quite a while." He said honestly.

"That's what I like to hear." Alexandria replied with a smile. "So what about a nice evening with some DVD's?" She wanted to know, repeating her earlier suggestion.

"You don't have to stay with me Lexi. I know how much you wanted to go to that club…" Randy started but Alexandria quickly cut him off.

"No way. It won't be fun without you being here. Besides when was the last, or actually one of the first times we had a nice and quiet evening just for us?"  
The Legend Killer ran a hand through his hair.

"Okay, that's an argument. So we better go back to the hotel before we run into other people who want to drag us down to the club."

"Yeah… let's go." Alexandria agreed and took Randy's hand and the two started to walk towards Randy's car.

"When will your parents be back?" Randy questioned. He meant Shawn Michaels and Marissa Reed-Michaels, who were currently on their honeymoon trip.

"Actually I'm not sure. Mom called yesterday to tell me that they will be back tomorrow but when exactly she couldn't tell. Looks like there are some problems with the flight."

"I see. And how did they enjoy Greece?"

"Mom's totally ecstatic and says that we need to go there sometime."  
Randy laughed. "We'll keep that in mind perhaps for our own honeymoon." He told her.

Alexi blushed a little and smacked Randy on the arm.

"I still can't believe that Vince allowed Shawn to leave for three weeks during the tour." The Legend Killer stated.

"I guess he still feels partly responsible for all that has happened." Shawn's daughter reasoned.

"Yeah… I'm sure that's it…" Randy agreed and opened the car door for Alexi.

The girl got in and when Randy was sitting behind the wheel, Alexandria questioned.

"Are we ordering room-service or are we going to get something on the way?"

"No fast food tonight please." Randy groaned and his stomach did a nice little turn when Alexandria mentioned food.  
"Actually I'm not really hungry right now so I guess we're ordering room service later." He explained.

HBK's daughter nodded. "Are you still feeling sick?" She questioned, wondering if that was the reason why Randy didn't want to eat right now.

She knew for a fact that the last time Randy had eaten had been at breakfast well if you considered three spoonful of cereal a breakfast.

"A little." The younger Orton admitted. He was about to start his car when he wondered for a moment if he could drive with his concussion.

_ Probably not… _

Since Alexi wasn't allowed to drive for another two weeks, Randy had to think of something else.

"Um Alexi… if I think about it… why not walk back to the hotel. I mean it's only about ten minutes from here. And it'll probably help my headache. Besides I guess Dave will drive us back here tomorrow." He wanted to know, not telling Alexi about his concussion.

The girl looked at Randy a little surprised.

But when she thought about it, a walk with Randy sounded like a good idea.

So she just nodded.

"Sounds like a good idea. The fresh air will do us both some good."

She got out of the car and Randy did too.

It was a little cold and Alexi shivered for a moment in her outfit. In all the hectic she had forgotten to change from her show outfit into her regular clothes.

The Legend Killer walked back to his car, opened the trunk and rummaged around in his bag for a moment before he pulled out a jacket and handed it to Alexandria.

"Here, this'll keep you warm at least a little bit." He told his girlfriend.

Alexi quickly put on the jacket and pulled it tight around her shoulders, breathing in the scent of her boyfriend.

Randy locked his car and walked back to his girlfriend and hand in hand the two started to walk back to the hotel hand in hand.

_ At least the fresh air really helps… _ The young Orton thought when his headache vanished slowly until it was just a little stab of pain occasionally.

And besides that he enjoyed the quiet night and the peaceful walk with Alexandria.

It helped him to forget the events of the day, especially the arrival of his father.

"Your father seems like a nice person." Alexandria told him out of the blue, stopping Randy's peaceful thoughts in a second.

The Legend Killer looked at his girlfriend for a moment before answering.

"Well yeah… he's my father…" He replied vaguely.

Alexi smiled. "Won't it be great to work with him again after not having seen him for such a long time?" She questioned.

"I guess that depends on the storyline Vince has come up with." He tried to sound neutral but Shawn's daughter could hear something else in his voice that she couldn't place right now.

_ Perhaps it's just because he's tired. _She told herself, wondering once again what was up with her boyfriend.

The Legend Killer put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer when they finally entered Randy's hotel room.

"And now let's stop talking about work and just enjoy the evening." He pleaded.

Alexandria had to agree with that but wasn't sure why Randy considered Bob Orton part of his 'work'.

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly her cell phone rang.

"Oh sorry…" She quickly apologised, wondering who was calling her at such a time.

"It's okay." Randy assured her, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead and then vanished into the bathroom to give Alexandria some privacy.

She smiled a little and answered the phone.

"Alexandria Reed-Michaels." She questioned since the number of the caller wasn't recognised on her cell.

"**_Reed-Michaels? Is this you Lex?"_** A female voice asked from the other end of the line.

"Oh my god Dhani." Alexandria squealed happily.

"How are you? Why didn't you call for so long? And why are you calling now?" She questioned giddily. It had been a while since she'd last heard from her best friend Dhani McMillan. Even though Dhani was a few years older than Alexi, the two had always gotten on great. They only lived a few streets from each other.

_ Well… have lived… _ Alexandria corrected in her thoughts because she had no idea when she would actually get back to her house to arrange the move to Shawn's house.

"**_Slow down Lex. But why Reed-Michaels? Did I miss something here?" _**The girl on the other end wanted to know.

"Actually yeah… I guess you missed out on a lot." Alexandria admitted, just now realising there was no way Dhani could know about all that had happened in the last weeks. She had been out of the country on a figure skating workshop for three months to train with a professional coach and probably hadn't really been able to keep up to date with what was happening around here in the USA. She and Dhani hadn't even had the chance to call each other regularly and it had been eight weeks since Dhani had last called.

"**_I'm calling now because I've been back in America for about two days and I wanted to call you but at your house nobody answered and I just now found your cell phone number again."_** The girl on the other end of the line said a bit sheepishly.

"That's so great. I wish I could go down to see you but I'm actually not at home right now."  
**_"What do you mean you're not home? Are you in hospital?"_** Dhani asked, sounding concerned now.

"No… actually I've gotten out of hospital a few weeks ago… and guess what… I can see again."

"**_You're serious? The operation was a success? Man that's so great."_** Dhani told her honestly and just now Alexi realised how much she had missed Dhani and she realised how much events in her life Dhani had missed during her stay in Russia.

"Yeah… it really is great."  
**_"So Alexandria, what's with the Reed-Michaels?" _**Dhani questioned, remembering her first question.

Alexi sighed a little. "This is a really long story and I guess Randy wouldn't appreciate it if I let him stay in the bathroom for so long. And besides, think about your phone bill." She explained and wondered how she could explain everything that had happened in the last few weeks on the phone.

She'd rather do it face to face.

"**_Randy? Who's Randy?"_** Dhani wanted to know.

"Again another long story. Dhani, when are you going back to school and training?" Alexi wanted to know.

"**_In about a week. Linda wants to give me some time to adjust to being back in America. Why?"  
_**"What do you think about coming to Washington for a week?" HBK's daughter wanted to know.

"**_That'd be great but why should I go to Washington?"  
_**"I want to tell you everything that has happened face to face and since I'm in Washington for a while you need to come up here."  
**_"Washington? What the hell are you doing in Washington?"_** Now Dhani sounded really confused and Alexi could understand that. This conversation was confusing but Alexandria really wanted to see Dhani again and not tell her everything on the phone.

"I'm working…" Alexi answered curtly.

"**_Okay. I know we normally understand each other without a lot of words but right now I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Why are you working in Washington?"_**

"That's another part of this incredibly long and complicated story." Alexandria answered with a sigh. "So can you come up here please?"

"_**Of course Lex, I guess I can drive down there tomorrow. Can you get me a hotel room?" **_

"I'll try. And if I can't you can stay with me and Christy. I'm sure she won't mind."

"_**Okay, I'm not going to ask who Christy is because I guess you'll say that it's another part of your long story." **_

"Exactly. It's so great that you're coming up here. I've really missed you and I've especially missed talking to you."

"**_I've missed you too… well then I guess see you tomorrow, even though you're leaving me really confused here."  
_**"Believe me I'm going to explain everything as soon as you're here." Alexi assured Dhani and quickly gave Dhani instructions in which hotel she was staying.

"Bye Dhani." She finally said and hung up the phone with a bright smile on her face.

Right at this moment Randy came out of the bathroom, a smile on his face too.

"So your friend Dhani will come here to see you?" He questioned.

Alexi stood up from the bed and hugged him.

"Did you eavesdrop?" She questioned only half serious.

"Actually no. You've spoken pretty loudly and hotel walls aren't too thick so I had to eavesdrop." The Legend Killer explained.

"Oh I see."  
"So back to topic here. You friend Dhani will come to see you and perhaps stay with you and Christy if you can't get her a hotel room? Is that right?"  
"Yeah." Alexi confirmed.

"And how are you going to tell Vince McMahon? Remember the big, sometimes bad guy… our boss?"

"Oh…" Alexi said and her face fell. She had been so happy to hear from Dhani again that she had completely forgotten that Vince could have something against it.

"So what are you going to tell him?"

"Well… the truth. If he asks, I'm going to tell him that Dhani is an old friend who happens to be in the same hotel as we are and I want to spend some time with her when I have spare time."

"That's not the truth, love." Randy stated and laughed.  
"But it's not a complete lie either." Alexi protested.

Randy laughed. "Okay… that's indeed true."  
"Can't we worry about that if the time comes? Right now I just want to have a nice evening with you without worrying about tomorrow and I need to ask if I can get a hotel room for Dhani."

And with that she walked over to the hotel phone and called the reception to find out if there were still rooms available. Luckily an older couple had just checked out because of some family emergency so Alexandria was able to book the hotel room. She left instructions for Dhani what to do if she wouldn't be able to welcome her.

With a sigh she put the telephone down and looked at Randy with a smile.

"So what are we going to do now?"  
Instead of answering Alexandria, Randy smiled, leaned down and kissed her.

Alexi immediately responded to the kiss.

When the two separated they were both slightly out of breath.

Alexandria looked at Randy and smiled.

"And which DVD are we going to watch?" She wanted to know, freeing herself from his embrace and went to Randy's bag where she knew he kept his films.

She crouched down and rummaged through them.

"I'm definitely not going to watch that…" She mumbled, going through one film after the other.

Randy walked over to her and watched her with an amused smile on his face while Alexi was ruling out one after the other movie until she finally found one she liked.

Getting to her feet, she waved it in front of Randy's face enthusiastically.

"Let's watch this one." She stated unnecessarily.

The Legend Killer looked at the DVD and nodded.

"I guess I can live with that." He agreed, took the DVD and walked over to the TV-station the hotel offered.

Alexandria meanwhile made herself comfortable on the bed.

Randy joined her seconds later with the remote control in his hands. HBK's daughter leaned back against him and he put his arms around her before he started the DVD and so the two spend the evening cuddling on the bed and watching the film.

Since they were both exhausted they soon fell asleep in each others arms.

* * *

John walked down the hall deep in thoughts.

_ With Bob Orton back on RAW things will get complicated. And Dave is already getting suspicious. I just hope Randy will be able to cope with it… _

"Hey Cena, wait up." John groaned when he heard Triple H call after him but he did stop because he knew running away wouldn't solve this whole issue and he guessed that it was just better to talk to Hunter now.

The current WWE-Champion turned around and looked at the older man expectantly.

"What do you want Hunter?" He questioned, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Why do people always think that I want something when I come to talk to somebody?" Triple H questioned.  
"Because usually it's like that." John stated calmly.

Hunter decided to just ignore it and told him: "Actually it's something I want. I want to know what's wrong with Randy."

John was startled but he tried to keep a neutral expression.

"And just why do you think I will tell you that? Besides why do you want to know? I didn't know you cared."  
Triple H had an exasperated look on his face and threw his arms in the air in sort of a helpless motion and for a moment John wondered what was going on with the Cerebral Assassin.

"Damn John. Just tell me what's wrong with Randy."

"So that you can make his life even more miserable? Forget it Hunter. And stop stalking Randy or you'll regret it, I swear."

And with that John turned around and walked down the hall without another glance at Hunter. If he had looked back he would have seen that Triple H watched him go with an almost hurt expression on his face before putting on his cold expression and walking back to his locker room.

When John was nearly out the arena, Batista, Christian and Tyson Tomko caught up with him.

"Hey there Doctor, ready for a night of fun?" Jason wanted to know, putting an arm around Cena's shoulder.

"Huh?" John questioned because he hadn't even noticed them approaching him until Christian had spoken to him.

"And out of what daydream have we pulled you now?" Batista wanted to know with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Actually I wasn't really daydreaming. I was just wondering what the hell has gotten into Hunter all of sudden."

"What d'ya mean by that?" Tomko asked.

"I don't really know Ty. It's just that it almost looks like he's concerned about Randy… he even asked me how RKO was."

Batista's eyes widened a little. "And just why do you think he's doing that after he's spent the last months making Randy's life a living nightmare?"

"That's what I was wondering about." John explained, rubbing his face with his hand a little tiredly.

Tyson, Christian and Batista nodded. They were equally as confused as the Dr. of Thuganomics.

Cena looked at the others and felt bad for ruining their good mood for the evening. It was just too much for him to handle it alone right now and sometimes he hated Randy for doing this to him but on the other hand he also knew that it wasn't actually the Legend Killers fault.

"Guys… I guess it's no use trying to figure out Triple H. I've tried it for years and have never gotten too far." Batista told the others, trying to lighten the mood.

Indeed John, Jason and Tyson laughed a little.

"So when are we going to meet Christy and the others at the club? And who's coming?" Tomko wanted to know.

"Well as far as I know it's us four, Christy, Trish, RVD, Victoria and a few others." John told his friend.

"And Y2J's coming too… and I bet he'll bring Martha with him." Batista added.

"Speaking of Jericho where has he been? I mean I haven't seen him all day." Tyson questioned.

John shrugged. "He was doing a photo shoot and was going over some songs with his band so I guess he's been busy all day."  
"I see… and Shawn's in Greece, enjoying the sun." Christian stated with a sigh.

"Hey Jase, don't be jealous. After everything that has happened Shawn really earned this." John reasoned.  
"I guess you're right." Captain Charisma admitted.

"Besides he'll tell us all about it when he comes back tomorrow."

The four men laughed and went to their respective cars.

John, who had driven with Batista, was about to get into the passengers seat when his eyes fell on Randy's sports-car.

"Look Dave, isn't that Randy's car over there?" He wanted to know.

The Animal followed John's gaze and nodded.

"Yeah that's it. But why is it still here? I thought Randy wanted to get back to the hotel."  
John shrugged. "Perhaps he and Alexi went for a walk. I mean he always goes running or for a walk when he has these headaches." He mused.

Batista nodded. "That has to be it. I mean the hotel's not really that far so they could really have walked back there."  
"Let's ask him tomorrow. Right now I'm in the mood for some fun without having to worry about tomorrow." Cena stated.

Batista started his car and glanced at his friend in the passenger's seat.

Dave didn't really like the way the Dr. of Thuganomics looked. He knew him well enough to be sure that John wanted nothing more than to tell him what was going on here. But Dave also knew that John would never betray Randy's trust even if it was killing him.

_ Damn… what the hell happened today? In the morning everything was alright and we were looking forward to a night of fun and now things are going downhill again and I don't even know why… _ He thought while he drove the car towards the club they had agreed to meet at.

* * *

to be continued  



	4. Late night talks

Author's note: Hey everybody... I'm glad you liked the last chapter so much... and I hope you like this as well... thanks again for all reviewers 'hugs all' I'm feeling a little better but not much... but writing at least keeps me occupied...

**But before you read the new chapter... here comes a little warning: There are some topics in there which might be offending to people... just know that I never intended to offend or anger anybody... this chapter is purely fiction and nothing else... so please don't be mad or something like that... and well it's a little dark because I'm feeling a little dark myself...**

I hope you enjoy reading it none the less... 'hugs all'

Disclaimer: None of the characters you recognise from the shows belong to me... and nothing of this has ever happened as far as I know...

_**Zanderlover**_: Yes I've written you more than one e-mail but I see they never made it 'damn mailing system' but I'll try again to write you and hope to hear from you as soon as possible... I'll think about you 'hugs'  
And ha... for the first time since starting the story you haven't guessed everything what's going to happen correctly even though there is some truth in your review. 'grin' You'll just have to wait and see what's going to happen.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Late night talks

* * *

**

When John returned to the hotel hours later he was exhausted and glad that there wouldn't be any appointments the next day that he needed to keep. Batista, who was walking beside him, was equally exhausted. They had had a great night and John wondered where Dave had been for a while.

_ Well Stacy wasn't around much either, so perhaps they spend some time together. I just wonder what the two are up to. _ John thought a little amused but then he realised that they probably weren't even together since the club had been really full and it was hard to keep an eye on all people.

Batista brought John out of his thoughts. "Man, I'm just glad that we don't have any photo shootings or something like that tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'd really have looked good with the dark circles around my eyes."  
John laughed a little and walked towards the stairs to get to their hotel rooms.

"I totally agree with you here but I think the night was totally worth it. It's just a pity that Randy and Alexandria weren't there. I'm sure they would've enjoyed it as much as we have." As soon as John had said the last sentence he regretted it. They had both been in high spirits before and suddenly they both remembered what had happened today.

Dave sighed. "Damn John, can you tell me what the hell happened today? I mean just in the morning everything was fine and now I can't stop thinking about Randy's look on his face when he realised that his father is coming back." The Animal told John.

John stopped in his tracks and looked at Batista.

"What do you mean? Which look?" He questioned, showing the concern in his voice.

"I'm not sure how to explain it but I've never seen Randy look like that. I mean his whole posture was tense and he tried his best not to show it but when I looked into his eyes he really scared me John."

"Scared you? How?" Cena had no real idea what to say to that but the way Batista sounded started to really worry John.

"It wasn't because he looked angry. It was because he looked so scared and almost defeated. Randy never even looked like that when his shoulder was injured and he possibly faced the end of his career. And that's what scared me."

Cena hadn't been able to see Randy's eyes because he had been so focused on Bob Orton and that Batista had even seen those emotions in the Legend Killer's eyes wasn't anything to comfort the current WWE-Champion.

Now John rubbed a wary hand over his face and sat down on the stairs.

"If it's that bad already then we have a serious problem." He mumbled, forgetting for a moment that Batista could hear him.

The Animal did however and his eyes widened a little.

He sat down beside the Dr. of Thuganomics.

"What do you mean we have a serious problem?"

Just now John remembered that he wasn't alone and for once he had no idea how to get out of that without revealing too much of Randy's past. He knew the young Orton would never forgive him for betraying his trust.

"Dave, I know you want nothing more than to find out what's bothering RKO but I just can't tell you… not now and not without talking to Randy first."

"I understand that John but is it really as bad as I think it is?" Batista wanted to know.

"I fear it's even worse. I mean it's a miracle that Randy's still here to tell the story."

Dave's eyes widened and he had no idea what to reply to that.

John just now realised that he had said too much again but he suddenly looked up at Batista with a serious expression on his face. After a quick look around to make sure that nobody was listening in on their conversation, he returned his gaze back to Batista again.

"Dave, what I'm going to tell you now is something you absolutely can't tell, no matter what. I'm just telling you because I fear I need any help I can get to have an eye on Randy."

"John, to be frank, you're starting to scare me here."  
"Believe me that this wasn't my intention but I want you to understand that it's pretty serious this time. I fear that Randy may become suicidal again."

The statement hung in the air and for a moment Batista had no idea what scared him more. The fact that John had just said that Randy might become suicidal or the fact that he had said again, which meant that the Legend Killer had been suicidal in the past.

"Again?" He finally asked stunned, no idea what else to say.

"Yeah, RKO tried to kill himself more than once in the past." John admitted, feeling guilty for revealing so much of Randy's past the young Orton had always tried to leave behind.

"You're kidding right? Please say you're kidding." The Animal nearly shouted looking at John almost pleadingly.

The Dr. of Thuganomics shook his head sadly.

"I really wish I would be kidding Dave, unfortunately I'm not." Cena wasn't sure what to feel or to think now and he buried his head in his hands, feeling exhausted.

He had never intended to tell Batista that much but he had to admit that he felt relieved that finally somebody else knew about it.

He needed other people to know so they could take care of Randy because there was no way John would be able to handle it alone this time.

And in addition to that, Cena knew that Batista would never tell anybody else about this. He would never betray Randy's or John's trust so the current WWE-Champion knew that the secret was safe for now.

"But why? I mean why would he try to kill himself again? I mean he has everything you could want. He's a successful wrestler; he has all the money he wants, a beautiful girlfriend and friends who care about him."

John rubbed his temple and then he looked at Batista again.

"It's not what he has Dave; it's what he never had." He stated simply.

"Okay John, you're really confusing me here."  
"And it better stays this way… at least for now. I've already said too much. I just want and need you to know that it's important that you keep an eye on Randy."  
"Believe me John, I will. But how do you know about his suicide attempts? I mean, I don't know much people who are or were suicidal but normally they don't go around telling people about it…"

John shook his head wildly, trying to get rid of the image Batista's question had brought up.

"Is everything okay John?" The Animal asked concerned.

John laughed bitterly.

"It's just this scene I can't forget. I think I'll never be able to forget the day when I found my best friend, lying in his bedroom in a pool of his own blood, with his wrists slit open, barely alive… but do you know what the worst part was… that he was begging me to leave him alone so that he could die."

Dave could easily see how shaken John was after that confession and the Animal had to admit that he was too. He had never thought that Randy would be able to do such a thing.

Having no idea what else to do, Batista put a comforting arm around John's shoulder.

"He really asked you that? He really asked you to leave him alone to die?" He finally asked after a moment of silence.

John nodded slowly.

"It was so scary Dave. I just couldn't understand why Randy could want to die. He was sixteen for god's sake and I thought he had everything he could want or need back then… it took me a while to understand why he did what he did."  
"I never even suspected anything like that. As long as I've known Randy he always seemed so happy with life." Batista admitted and once again wondered what else Randy was hiding from everybody else.

Cena shrugged again. "I guess he was… well he is… actually I don't really know how he's feeling right now and that's what worries me. In addition to that this thing with his headaches isn't helping either and worries me even more." He told his friend.

"I guess there's no way you're going to tell me why Randy is so bad off all of sudden?"

"That's actually the point I've been trying to avoid in this conversation." John told Batista.

Dave nodded slowly. He could see that John was tired and needed his rest.

Besides that the Animal didn't want to force John into betraying Randy's trust.

So he didn't press the issue at least for now but promised himself to really keep an eye on Randy and perhaps he could get the young Orton to talk to him if there was the chance.

"Okay, since this conversation isn't going anywhere I guess we should go back to our rooms to get some well needed rest."

John nodded, thankful that Dave seemed to understand why Cena didn't tell him more about Randy's past.

It wasn't that John didn't want to because he had always known that Randy needed to tell people but it just wasn't John's place to tell anybody about it.

He just hoped that Randy wouldn't find out what he had told Dave because there was no telling what the outcome would be.

He slowly stood up from the cold and hard stairs and grinned a little.

"Thanks for listening but I guess we really need to sleep. I can barely keep my eyes open." He admitted.

"I agree with you here. And of course I'm listening John. We're friends and we help each other."  
John just nodded and clapped a hand on Dave's shoulder to say his silent thanks.

Dave smiled and in silence the two continued their track up the stairs until they reached the right floor.

"Well then night Dave… and if Chris comes home before you're asleep tell him goodnight from me too." The Dr. of Thuganomics said with a grin.

"I will even though I highly doubt that he will return at all tonight. Haven't you seen how he and Martha were acting towards each other?" He told the other wrestler and John had a grin on his face.

"Are you going to have breakfast with the others tomorrow?" Batista wanted to know, opening the door to his room.

"Dunno… depends on when they're going. You can try to call me but I'm not promising anything." John explained.

"Okay. If not for breakfast then we'll at least see each other for dinner." Batista looked at Cena expectantly. They had all agreed to go to have dinner together before they all had to work again and didn't have much time to just enjoy each others company.

John nodded. "I'll see if I can get Randy and Alexi to come. It will do them both some good and get their minds on other things."

"That's probably a good idea. But now, good night, this time for real."  
"Night Dave." John replied and then Batista went into his room and John continued a little down the hall where his and Randy's room was.

For a moment he contemplated knocking but then again he decided against it and just unlocked the door, after pressing his ear against the door for a second, hearing nothing.

As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the dim light in the room, which was only illuminated by the light from the hallway, he couldn't help but smile when he saw the scene in the room.

Alexandria and Randy were lying on Randy's bed, snuggled together and sleeping peacefully.

He quietly crept into the bathroom to change for bed without waking the two.

When he went back into the room, he switched the TV off and quietly went to bed.

For a moment John had thought about waking them up but he knew that the two needed their rest as much as he himself did and they looked comfortable in each others arms so there was no need to wake them.

It didn't take long for John to fall asleep either because his exhausted body needed rest.

* * *

Randy was the first one to wake up the next morning. As he had expected and feared his head was throbbing again. A quick look on his watch told him that it was too early to be awake but he was anyway. 

The Legend Killer looked down at Alexandria, who was still sleeping peacefully beside him.

With a smile he bent down and kissed her on the forehead before his gaze fell onto John's bed.

The Dr. of Thuganomics was also still sleeping and had the sheets pulled up just under his chin.

_ Thanks buddy… _ Randy thought when he realised that John had let them sleep when he had returned from the club.

Even though his headache was bad he felt calmer than he had in the last days and waking up with Alexi in his arms had felt really good too.

He quietly got out of bed and went into the bathroom to change once again in his jogging attire and when he returned to the room he quickly scribbled down a note to tell Alexi where he was in case she woke up before John did.

With another soft kiss on her forehead, he grabbed his sunglasses from his nightstand and left the room.

Just when he was closing the door behind him, John awoke from his sleep. He sat up in his bed and looked at the now closed door.

He could immediately tell where Randy was going.

_ Shit… so his headache is still there… _ John couldn't find another reason for Randy to leave the hotel room with Alexi still asleep in his bed except when he needed his run to get rid of the headache.

Careful not to wake Alexi up either he got out of his bed and started his usual morning workout.

So a while later Alexandria was treated to the sight of John Cena doing knee bends when she woke up.

She rubbed her eyes a little and yawned.

"Morning Alexi." John greeted between two knee bends.

The girl had been a little embarrassed when she had woken up because it was a little awkward when she thought about the picture John must've seen the evening before when returning from the club.

But his cheerful greeting helped Alexandria to get over it.

"Good morning John. What time is it and where is Randy?" She questioned.

"I guess he's running again. He left you a note on the drawer. And it's seven o'clock in the morning"

Of course John had seen the note but he hadn't read it.

Alexandria turned in the bed and reached for a note.

She read it with a smile on her face.

"He's so cute…" She mumbled, carefully putting the note back on the drawer.

John laughed at that. "I guess so. He's never left me any love letters so I can't really tell." He teased.

Alexandria blushed a little and glared at John for a second, before she got out of bed.

"I'm quickly going back to my room to change, okay?" She stated when she realised that she was still in her in-ring-outfit which had been surprisingly comfortable to sleep in but looked like that too and Alexandria really wanted to shower.

"Okay. I'll tell Randy when he returns before you're back."  
"Thanks John." Alexandria nodded and stood up, grabbing the note and leaving the room a little hurried.

John watched her go with an amused grin on his face before he continued with his routine.

John was just leaving the bathroom after having taken a shower when Randy returned to the room.

"Morning JC." Randy greeted and his voice sounded a little odd to the Dr. of Thuganomics.

"Good Morning RKO." John greeted without looking at Randy because he was busy towel-drying his hair.

"Where's Lexi?" Randy questioned, sitting down on his bed, rummaging through the drawers, searching for the pain medication Martha had given him the day before.

"She went to her room to change. I guess she'll be back soon."  
"Oh okay." The young Orton nodded, finally finding the painkillers he had been searching for.

"So you're feeling any better today?" John wanted to know, having finished drying his hair.

"Huh?" Randy questioned a little absentmindedly. He hadn't really paid attention to what John had been asking.

This was the first time since Randy had returned to the room that John looked at his best friend and he was shocked to see how pale he looked. The sunglasses on his eyes were a contrast to the pale face and John wondered why Randy still wore them even indoors.

"I wanted to know if you're feeling better." He inquired, walking closer to his best friend to get a better look on him.

Randy avoided looking at his best friend directly, making John even more suspicious.

"Well… yeah a little… I was just about to take some painkillers Martha has given me." The young Orton answered vaguely.

"So what's with the sunglasses?" John wanted to know, thinking it was easier to get straight to the point.

"What sunglasses?" The Legend Killer looked at John in confusion, causing the Dr. of Thuganomics to cross his arms in front of his chest, looking at the young man annoyed.

"You know in the last days I'm getting the feeling that you're doing that on purpose." John told him.

"Doing what?" Randy questioned, trying his best innocent expression.

"Trying to avoid having a proper conversation with me." John said, trying to keep his voice calm.

"I'm not John. I'm just still tired…" The Legend Killer didn't sound really convincingly.

And John didn't buy this story for a second.

"Come on RKO just tell me what's going on right now, well except the obvious problems you're trying to deny and only I know about." John knew that the best way to get Randy to talk was the direct one and not walking circles around it because the young Orton had a way to get out of these conversations without telling anything John wanted to know.

When confronted directly it was more likely that John would find out something.

This time however, it didn't really look like it and the way Randy still avoided looking at John, told the current WWE-Champion that this wasn't going to be easy.

"At least look at me when you're talking to me." John said, trying to sound angry and yanked the sunglasses from Randy's eyes but froze in his tracks when he saw why Randy had been wearing the sunglasses.

The young Orton quickly turned his face away from John but it was already too late.

"What the hell happened RKO?" John questioned softly, sitting down on the bed beside Randy. The tone of his voice was gentle yet demanding and Randy knew that he didn't stand a chance when John used that tone of voice on him.

With a sigh the Legend Killer slowly turned his head back to John so that the Dr. of Thuganomics could get a good look on his face.

On instinct John reached out to touch Randy's face but stopped before he really did.

The black eye looked painful enough without him touching it.

"Who did that RKO?" He wanted to know.

"Do you really have to ask?" Randy stated simply.

John's eyes widened in shock and he was just about to reply to that when there was a knock on the door before it was opened and Alexi poked her head in. She had a grin on her face but when she saw Randy's face it immediately vanished.

"Oh my god Randy, what happened to your face?"

The two men looked at each other and then at Alexi, who'd come into the room and closed the door behind her.

John's expression said as much as 'go on and tell her the truth' but Randy shook his head vehemently.

Cena just groaned at that.

Alexandria had of course noticed the silent communication between the two friends and wondered what was going on.

"So what's wrong here? And what happened to your eye?" She repeated her earlier question.

Randy quickly hid the painkillers under his pillow so that Alexandria wouldn't see them before he stood up and put a smile on his face.

"It's nothing serious Lexi. When I was about to leave the hotel, still a little tired and dazed, some random guest was about to enter through the same door and slammed the door against my face."

_ Bro, that's one of the lamest excuses you've ever told. And I should know I've heard a lot of them from you over the past years. _John realised and shook his head half in amusement and half in exasperation.

In fact, hadn't the situation been so serious, John might even have laughed at the downright absurd story but he just couldn't right now.

Alexi raised an eyebrow and as sure that she didn't believe a word Randy had just said.

Indeed Alexandria had her doubts about the story she'd just heard.

_ But why should Randy lie to me? I mean we trust each other and he knows that he can tell me everything. _

"Are you sure?" She inquired.

Randy nodded and walked over to her and gave his girlfriend a kiss, trying to make her forget about it.

John watched the scene of affection with a smile on his lips.

_ At least he has someone he wants to live for this time. _ He mused, hoping that Randy's feelings for Alexandria were enough to stop Randy from trying to commit suicide again.

John knew that there wouldn't always be someone there to stop Randy from doing it if he really wanted to.

Even the Dr. of Thuganomics had nearly been too late once to stop Randy from getting through with it and he never wanted this to happen again.

"John? Hey JC, you're not going to space out on us are ya?" The Legend Killer's voice brought John back to reality.

"Huh?" He questioned, having no idea what Alexi and Randy had just said to him.

"Too late… I fear we've lost him." Alexi said in a melodramatic way, indicating that she was just teasing.

John laughed and was about to give a smart reply when the gurgling of his stomach interrupted him and caused Alexandria to giggle.

Cena put a hand on his abdomen and told his friends: "I know it's awfully early but my stomach tells me that it's time to have breakfast."

Randy nodded. "Let me take a quick shower and you can call Batista and the others in the meantime to find out if they wanna come as well."

"Not a good idea Randy. Don't you remember what happened last time when Chris called Dave before ten o'clock in the morning on a free day?" Alexi said, trying to sound as serious as possible and to hold back her laughter when she remembered the scene.

Randy pretended to be shocked. "Oh yeah… I forgot… Batty didn't like it too much and I still have the scars to prove that."  
John laughed. "I never knew that pillows leave scars."

"Well they aren't physical scars but think about the trauma I got after being insidiously attacked with a pillow. That's something you can never forget. It changes your life forever." The tone of Randy's voice and the look on his face were too much for Alexandria and she started to laugh wholeheartedly. Soon John and Randy joined in, the discovery from earlier forgotten for now.

* * *

to be continued if you want me to...  



	5. Worry

Author's note: Hey everybody, did I do something wrong? Or why is my last chapter suddenly gone? I'm going to repost it now... even though I've no idea why I only can see it when I'm logged in... yeah... well I'm reposting it now.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this story you recognise from the show belongs to me... only the characters you don't recognise are mine...

**Warnings: But before you read the new chapter... here comes a little warning: There are some topics in there which might be offending to people... just know that I never intended to offend or anger anybody... this chapter is purely fiction and nothing else... so please don't be mad or something like that... and well it's a little dark because I'm feeling a little dark myself...**

**

* * *

Chapter 5: Worry

* * *

**

A while later, John, Randy and Alexi were sitting in the restaurant over a nice breakfast and were talking about everything. Randy had decided to leave his sunglasses on because that would make people less suspicious than seeing the black eye.

Sure they'd ask questions and perhaps tease him about the sunglasses but it was better than trying to lie his way out of the situation.

Even though it was only half past eight, Rob van Dam and Chris Masters suddenly appeared in the doorway of the restaurant, looking around for any familiar faces.

After spotting Randy, John and Alexandria they walked over to them.

"Hey guys, can we join you for breakfast. The others are all still asleep."

"Sure thing Rob." John nodded.

"Thanks guys… morning Randy, morning Alexi." RVD greeted. He had been one of the draft picks too.

Alexandria was by now introduced to all wrestlers and divas and she liked most of them and even if she didn't like them she tried to be civil at least because there was a great chance that she would've to work with them in the future.

"Are you trying to set a new trend Randy? Or why the indoor-sunglasses?" Rob wanted to know.

"You got it. The Legend Killer is trying to kill another legend… that sunglasses can only be worn on sunny days and outside." Randy stated seriously.

RVD and Masters laughed at his joke and so the young Orton had successfully prevented any further questions as to why he was wearing sunglasses in a hotel restaurant.

"Oh, I forgot to ask Alexi. When will Dhani arrive?" Randy asked, trying to get their attention away from him.

Shawn's daughter slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Shit… I've totally forgotten to check my voicemail."  
With that she reached into her pocket for her cell phone.

"Who's Dhani?" Chris wanted to know, while Alexi listened to her voicemail.

"She's Lexi's best friend and she was out of the country for a while. Now she's back and she and Alexandria want to catch up on old times so she's coming down here." The young Orton quickly explained and left it at that because the rest was Lexi's problem he decided.

The girl had meanwhile checked her mailbox, having indeed received a message from Dhani.

"And?" John questioned. He had been told everything about Dhani at breakfast.

"She's on her way and will be here at the hotel in the afternoon." Lexi explained.

"Do you want to wait for her or can we go out?" Randy questioned.

"Of course we can go out… but only if you're up to it. I mean are you feeling better?" Alexandria questioned, still concerned about Randy's health.

"Yeah I'm feeling okay. And Martha has told me that I just need to take it easy. So since I didn't plan on going bungee jumping but just taking you to have a nice and quiet day out I'm taking it easy."

"Oh that reminds me RKO, McMahon wants to see you sometime today." John told Randy, remembering that he had completely forgotten to tell Randy that.

"So?" The young Orton questioned and shrugged his shoulders. John looked at him surprised and added: "So, I think it is better you go see him before you two vanish in your own little world."

Randy shook his head. "I know exactly what he's going to tell me so there's no point in wasting time sitting in his office."  
RVD and Chris looked at each other in surprise. This was totally unlikely for the Legend Killer.

"Um Randy, don't ya think that Vince might be a little angry if you don't show up?" Rob asked carefully.

"And? See how I care…" With that Randy stood up from his chair and began walking out of the restaurant. "Are you coming Alexi?" He called.

The girl looked at John and shrugged her shoulders in confusion before she hurried to follow Randy.

"See you guys later." She quickly said before she and Randy were gone.

RVD and Chris looked at each other and then at John.

"Am I the only one who thought this was weird?" van Dam asked after a moment of silence.

"No you're not. I mean Randy isn't the type to just skip a meeting with the big boss without a good reason." Masters added.

_ If you only knew guys… this is all but a normal situation. _Cena thought and after Randy's reaction he had the distinct feeling that he also knew what McMahon wanted to talk to the young Orton about because this was the only explanation for Randy's sudden exit.

"Perhaps he's still not feeling too good… I mean Vince will be a little pissed off but what else can he do?" He said lamely, even though he very well knew that Vince could do a lot.

_ Hopefully Alexi can convince him to go see Vince because the last thing Randy needs right now is an angry McMahon on his heels. _

RVD looked at John and raised an eyebrow.

"You know what Vince can do…" He told the current WWE-Champion.

"Yes I do… but I'm still hopeful that Alexandria will be able to convince him to go." John informed Chris and Rob.

"You sure?" Chris questioned. It was clear that Randy was feeling pretty low right now, even though he had no real idea why and the last thing the young Orton needed right now was trouble with McMahon.

"I'm not sure but I believe Alexandria knows what's at stake so she'll do her best and if there's someone Randy will listen to then it's Lexi."

Rob and Chris nodded because there was nothing else they could really do right now.

* * *

It took Alexi a moment to catch up with her boyfriend and Randy didn't really slow his pace until he was out of the hotel.

Only then he stopped waiting until his girlfriend was standing at his side.

For a moment there was silence before Alexi got straight to the point.

"What the hell was that Randy?" She questioned a little confused and a little angry.

Randy just shrugged.

"Well I don't see a point in wasting my time in Vince's office when I already know what he's planning to tell me anyway."

Alexi raised an eyebrow in question.

"And just how'd you know?"  
The Legend Killer shrugged again. "Believe me I just know."  
"But Randy… even though you know don't you think that Vince will be mad if you just don't show up? I mean he has been kind to all of us over the last weeks so I don't think it's really fair to just leave him hanging there."  
The young Orton just sighed.

"Perhaps you're right…" He admitted even though reluctantly.

For a moment Alexandria was scared at how lost he looked.

Without another word Alexi took a step forward and hugged the Legend Killer.

She was a little surprised at the way he returned her embrace.

He almost clung to her like a frightened child.

And the look on his face told her that he probably felt like one.

_ Oh Randy, what the hell happened to you? _ She wondered silently.

After a few minutes the two broke the embrace.

"I really guess you're right and I better go and see Vince now and get it over with." Randy stated.

"I can come with ya if you like." Alexandria suggested with a smile on her face in an attempt to cheer her boyfriend up.

"Nah… you don't have to sit in there, listening to our boring conversation. I mean you sure have better things to do with your time."

Shawn's daughter was slightly taken aback at his words because she wondered if Randy didn't want her with him.

The young Orton seemed to realise the meaning of his words too, because he quickly added:  
"But of course you can come if you want to. I just thought you didn't want to sit around in Vince's office."

Alexi felt relieved and nodded.

"Okay… I guess you're right and I can go and finally see Chris while you're in your meeting with Vince. I haven't talked to him for a while."

Randy nodded and was relieved because he had the feeling that the meeting with McMahon wasn't going to be pretty. And he didn't really want Alexi to witness that.

"Well I guess then I'll call you when I'm finished with the meeting."

"Okay, so I'll go now and search for Chris. See you later handsome."

"Till later sweetheart." Randy replied and gave his girlfriend another kiss before the two separated.

* * *

It took Alexandria a while to find Chris and after she had asked about six wrestlers who all hadn't seen Jericho the whole day.

With a deep sigh she had one final idea where her surrogate brother could be.

She took a cab back to the arena and went to Martha's temporary office.

After a short knock she just opened the door when she didn't get an answer for about a minute.  
Alexi however stopped dead in her tracks when she saw why she hadn't gotten an answer.

In the middle of the room Chris and Martha stood involved in a kiss.

For a moment she watched with a smile on her face before she made her presence known by coughing loudly.

As if struck by lightning, Martha and Chris separated in an instance.

Dr. Cormela brushed a strain of hair out of her face and blushed a little.

"Hey there Alexi." Was all Jericho said with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Hi Chris, hi Martha." Alexandria replied, a smug grin on her face herself. She walked over to the two and told them: "Don't worry I'm not gonna tell the others. I mean they can find out for themselves."

She could see the relief in Dr. Cormela's eyes and Alexandria knew why.

The young doctor still felt uneasy around some guys in the back and she didn't really want them to find out about her relationship with Chris when the two themselves didn't know where they really stood with each other.

_ Well I guess they know a lot more about where they stand with each other now… _ Alexi realised when she remembered the kiss she had interrupted seconds before.

"So what's up? And where's your constant shadow?" Jericho questioned, this time with an honest smile on his face.

"You're talking about my constant shadow when you're Martha's constant shadow." Alexi teased.

"But back to topic here. Well Randy's talking to Vince right now and I thought I'd find you and talk to you alone like we haven't done in a while." Even though she hadn't meant for it to sound accusing, it still did because if she was honest with herself she missed her relationship with Chris a little.

Sure, she had Randy and as it looked like Chris had Martha now but this was the point here.

Chris and her hadn't had a conversation alone in two weeks and this was something she really missed.

Jericho ran a hand through his hair and smiled apologetically.  
"Well actually Martha and I are just heading out to get some breakfast…" He admitted.

"But you can join us if you want." He quickly added when he saw the disappointed look on Alexandria's face.

"Nah… that's okay… you two just go and have breakfast together and I'll find someone else to talk to until Randy is finished with the meeting." Lexi said.

"You sure?" Chris looked at his surrogate sister with a little doubt on his face.

"Yeah of course." She assured.

"Okay… we'll talk later… I promise." With that he walked over to Alexi and gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead.

He then took Martha's hand. The young doctor smiled apologetically at her before the two left the room.

"Bye…" was all Chris said before the door closed behind the two.

"Till later." Alexandria whispered a little disappointed but then she couldn't really blame Chris.

He had Martha now and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible just like she wanted to spend as much time with Randy as possible.

Still she missed their relationship a little and before she could stop it a wave of jealousy washed through her.

_ Come off it girl… you have Randy and he has Martha so things are bound to change…. _ She thought while she left Martha's office.

"So what do I do now?" She wondered aloud, contemplating to call Randy for a moment.

But the last thing she wanted was to disturb the meeting and perhaps anger Vince McMahon.

She needed to be in his best books when he found out about Dhani.

"You can come to the photo shooting with us." A voice suddenly called from behind her.

She turned around to see John and Rob van Dam and a very tired looking Batista behind her.

"So you'll at least have some company until Randy's finished." Dave suggested. Since the young Orton was absent he assumed that he was in his meeting with Vince.

Alexandria smiled. "That'd be great… Vince has fixed my first photo shooting for the day after tomorrow. And I really want to see how this works so that I won't make a complete idiot out of myself."

John grinned and patted her on the shoulder. "Come on Alexi. You'll do great just like you did with your debut on RAW. You're a natural for this business."  
"Thanks for the compliment." Shawn's daughter replied and gave John a radiant smile.

Batista looked at the exchange between the two with interest and just for a moment he wondered what exactly John felt for the younger girl.

He pushed these thoughts out of his mind and walked after the two, who had started walking some seconds ago. They were already talking to each other animatedly.

It didn't take them too long to reach the area where the photo shoot would be held.

Alexandria sat down on one of the not needed chairs and watched Dave and John doing their work.

_ This looks like fun… _She thought after a while when she noticed the relaxed atmosphere in the room. Batista and Cena were joking with each other and the photographer during the breaks between the shots.

Before she knew it an hour had gone by and her cell phone rang.

With an apologetic grin on her face she quickly left the room before answering the cell.

"Hey Dhani…" She said cheerily. Of course she had recognised the number on the display.

"**_Hi Lex."_** Dhani answered.

"So why are you calling? I mean not that I'm not happy to hear from you but I thought you'd be on the road down here by now."  
**_"Actually that's why I'm calling you. I'm not sure if you know but I've left a message on your mailbox…"  
_**"Yeah… that you'll be here around two in the afternoon." Alexandria agreed.

"**_Well… I guess I'll be a little later because I'm having some problems with the car. I'm at a garage to have it checked up on. I just wanted you to know so that you won't worry…"_** Dhani told her. She knew that Alexi worried a lot and she didn't want her to worry for nothing.

"That's a shame that you're having so much trouble coming down here. But I'm glad you called so that I at least know that you're okay."  
**_"That was the whole point of the call. I'll let you know when they're finished repairing the car and I'm on the road again…"_**

"Okay… so I hope to hear from you soon so that we can finally talk to each other face to face and I can fill you in on everything that has happened since we've last seen each other which has actually been a lot."  
**_"I'm curious and I can hardly wait… but I better go now because one of the mechanics is calling for me. As I said I'll call you as soon as I'm on the road again."  
_**"Okay… bye Dhani… until later."  
**_"Bye…"_** With that Dhani hung up the phone and Alexi followed her example.

Then she returned to the photo studio where all present had obviously taking a break and John and Dave were talking to each other but stopped abruptly when Alexandria returned to the room.

* * *

"Okay guys. We'll take a short break so that we can change the scenery." The photographer told Dave and John shortly after Alexi had left the room and the two gladly agreed.

They walked over to the table where some bottles of water and took one each, taking a sip.

"Alexi is a great girl…" John said out of the blue and Batista raised an eyebrow.

"You like her, don't ya?" He questioned.

"Of course I do… I mean you like her too." Cena nodded.

"I don't mean as a friend." Batista stated matter-of-factly.

John winced a little, which was answer enough for the Animal to answer his question.

"So it's true? You really like her."

"I'm trying my best to not to." John admitted and was about to say more when Alexandria came back into the room, so he quickly shut up and looked at the younger girl with a smile.

"Was that Randy?" He questioned quickly, referring to the phone call and trying to start a conversation before Alexandria could ask what they'd been talking about.

"No… it's been Dhani… She has car trouble and wanted me to know that she'll be later than she thought." Alexi explained.

"Oh… pity… after everything you've told me about her I'm really looking forward to meeting her." Cena replied.

"Believe me you'll really like her… in fact there's hardly anybody I know who doesn't like her."

Their conversation was interrupted when the photographer called: "John, Dave, we're ready to continue."  
"Oh… I guess this means back to work." Batista started.

Suddenly, and without warning Hunter burst into the room.

Batista growled a little when he saw Triple H and wondered what was going on with him now.

He looked a little pale, the Animal noticed, and had a look on his face the former Evolution member hadn't seen in a while. In addition to that he was slightly out of breath.

_ Perhaps for once he hasn't gotten something he wants so he's pissed off._ He thought but before he could say something, Hunter already started speaking.

"Sorry for interrupting."  
Now Dave was totally surprised because he hadn't really heard Hunter apologising and actually meaning it in quite a while.

"What do you want Hunter?" John questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Alexi decided to not say something and just watch what was going on.

The Cerebral Assassin of course noticed the hostile tone in John's voice but he didn't care and he didn't have time for that right now.

"I know you don't trust me and don't like me…let me tell you one thing I don't like you either but our personal differences need to rest for at least a minute because Randy send me here. He needs your help."

John's whole posture changed at once and the concern was evident in his voice.

"What did you do to him?" Batista questioned angrily.

"I didn't do anything… Randy sent me here and told me to tell you something to make sure that you believe me. I've no idea what it means but he said that you'd know."

John was getting rather impatient with the Cerebral Assassin.

"And what the hell did he tell you to tell me?" The current WWE-Champion wanted to know, wondering what had happened to make Hunter that nervous.

Triple H took a deep breath and then told him what Randy had said.

"He said to tell you that the shadow of the past has struck again."

"Oh shit. Where is he?" John wanted to know, his voice almost panicked. It was obvious that he'd gotten the meaning of the words.  
"In the unused locker-room… but he's…" Hunter started but Cena didn't wait for him to finish and before any of them could do or say something else, he was out of the room.

Batista and Alexandria looked at each other, both worried as well, before they quickly followed John with Hunter hot on their heels.

It wasn't too easy to keep up with the Dr. of Thuganomics and more than once John nearly ran over one of the wrestlers but he didn't slow his pace.

It didn't take long for him to reach the locker room Triple H had been talking about.

Cena yanked open the door but stopped dead in his tracks at the scene he saw in the room.

After he had gotten over his shock, he quickly entered the room and locked the door behind him before Alexi, Dave and Hunter had caught up with him.

"Oh my god Randy…" He gasped, taking in the bloody face of his best friend.

* * *

to be continued  



	6. Uncertainty

Author's note: Hey everybody... after getting three of my wisdom teeth out in a surgery I'm finally back on my feet... well mostly... and so I managed to write a new chapter... I don't know why it's a little dark and a little confusing... perhaps because of the painkillers I had to take... but hey... it's a new chapter and I hope you like it 'hugs all'

Disclaimer: None of the characters you recognise belong to me... the one's you don't recognise are mine

**Warning: Well again this chapter deals with some serious themes and I just hope I haven't offended anybody with it...**

**Zanderlover: **Somehow I'm starting to suspect there's a conspiracy against us... I wrote you six mails to different mail addresses but I guess not one reached you. And I tried to send you a message through but I guess this didn't work either... perhaps you can try mailing me again or write in your review and perhaps we'll finally find a way to communicate again... I miss talking to you 'hugs'

* * *

**Chapter 6: Uncertainty

* * *

**Hunter walked aimlessly down the corridors of the arena and he didn't really know where he was going. 

There was absolutely nothing to do for him at the moment.

Sure he could've trained but if he was honest he wasn't in the right mood to do so. Ric Flair and Sid Eudy were both occupied elsewhere. The Nature Boy had an interview with a wrestling magazine and Eudy wasn't the most exciting person to be around nowadays. Something was making him really moody and Hunter would bet his newly won championship belt that it had something to do with Shawn and his marriage to Marissa.

When he thought of Shawn and Marissa, he immediately thought of their daughter Alexi and that brought him inevitable to think about Randy.

That was actually the reason the Cerebral Assassin was walking aimlessly around the arena and why he wasn't really unhappy about being alone for the moment. Now that he was alone he had finally time to sort out is thoughts and he had quite a lot to think about in the last days.

Ever he'd seen Randy's breakdown the day before he'd thought a lot about the young man and to his own surprise he found that he was genuinely worried about the Legend Killer, not that he was in a haste to admit that to anybody who'd happen to ask.

Suddenly, when he passed one of the empty and unused locker rooms he heard someone whimpering.

For a moment Hunter thought he'd just imagined it but then he heard another groan and his curiosity was awoken.

So he slowly opened the door to the room and poked his head in, expecting a lot but not the scene he found inside.

Hunter was shocked at what he saw because that was something he hadn't been expecting to ever see: A barely conscious Randy Orton with a bloody nose and Triple H was sure that this wasn't the only bruise the young man carried.

Hunter quickly entered the room fully, closing the door behind him because the last thing he wanted were other wrestlers seeing Randy like that.

"Shit Randy, what happened?" He questioned the concern evident in his voice.

Forgotten was that he'd spend the last months trying to make Randy's life as hard as possible.

The only thing that mattered at the moment was to help the young man.

Randy still wasn't fully conscious but he groaned: "Go away Hunter… find someone else to harass… you're the last person I need right now."

Despite the younger man's words Triple H gently reached out to touch Randy's shoulder but quickly draw back when the young man hissed in pain.

Crouching down Triple H tried to get Randy to look him in the eye.

"Randy, even though you probably won't believe it, the only reason I'm here right now is to help you. Even I'm not that heartless, leaving a former friend alone when it's obvious that he needs help." Hunter exclaimed surprised that he really meant what he'd just said. The moment he'd seen Randy laying on the ground all bitterness towards him had vanished at least for now.

And for the first time Triple H realised how much he actually missed the friendship he hand Randy had shared in the past.

The young Orton finally looked at the Cerebral Assassin and was astonished that he actually believed the older man's words.

He slowly nodded but immediately stopped when his head began to throb because of the small movement.

"Who did this to you?" Hunter questioned when he realised that the young man wouldn't say something. It was obvious that someone had hurt Randy because this kind of injuries couldn't come from a fall.

The young Orton just shrugged, this time ignoring the pain this movement caused.

"The one who always does it…" He stated, knowing that Triple H wouldn't know who Randy meant.

"And if you really wanna help me, go find John, tell him the shadow of the past has returned and then you forget about everything you've just seen and pretend that it never happened." He added his voice barely a whisper because speaking hurt too.

Triple H looked at the younger man in surprise.

Sure, he'd known that Randy wasn't one to run around telling others about his injuries or problems but this was insane.

Someone was hurting the young Orton and there had to be done something about it but it looked like Randy didn't want that.

Another thought occurred to the older wrestler.

_ Who's able to hurt Randy like that? I mean he's a wrestler and he knows how to defend himself… unless… _He wondered uneasily because that thought led to only one conclusion and that wasn't one Hunter particularly liked.

_ … unless he doesn't want to defend himself. _

Triple H let his gaze wander over Randy and was concerned at how pale he looked.

"But Randy… you're hurt and I think you need to see a doctor…" He started but Randy quickly interrupted him.

"What the hell do you care? The only thing you cared about in the last months was how to make my life as hard and as miserable as possible and now that I'm finally used to having lost one of my best friends because of his egoism, you start acting all concerned again. So please go back to just hating and ignoring me… but before you do that go get John and tell him what I told you earlier… this would really help me… your false concern definitely doesn't."

There was a lot of bitterness in Randy's voice and just now Triple H realised how much he must've hurt the young man and was surprised that he felt regret for it suddenly.

"But…" Hunter tried again but the look in Randy's eyes silenced him immediately.

His eyes were full of pain but also fear and anger.

With a sigh Hunter stood up and straightened his clothes.

"We'll talk about that later Randy… count on it…" He whispered, hoping that the young man didn't hear him.

When he looked at the Legend Killer he realised that the young man was just about to lose consciousness which did nothing to assure Hunter.

He quickly left the room and ran down the hall, asking different wrestlers where John was at the moment before Rob van Dam finally told him, even though reluctantly that Cena had a photo shoot somewhere in the arena.

After that information it didn't take much longer for the Cerebral Assassin to find them.

When he entered the room he was a little out of breath and looked around the room.

"Sorry for interrupting." He stated, having no idea what else to see when he saw the pissed off look on Dave's, John's and Alexandria's faces.

"What do you want Hunter?" John questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Hunter had of course noticed the displeased and angry tone in the current WWE-Champions voice.

With a sigh Hunter carefully tried to find out what to say next.

"I know you don't trust me and don't like me…let me tell you one thing I don't like you either but our personal differences need to rest for at least a minute because Randy send me here. He needs your help." He finally explained, hoping he'd found the right words.

It looked as if he had because John didn't look angry anymore and the tone of his voice changed from angry to concern.

"What did you do to him?" Batista wanted to know, still sounding angry and Hunter admitted that Dave's words hurt a little because that meant that the Animal thought he was able to really hurt Randy.

_Well I guess I can't complain about that… and perhaps it's for the better if he hates me… for his and for my career. And right now it's not the time to brood over that…_

"I didn't do anything… Randy sent me here and told me to tell you something to make sure that you believe me. I've no idea what it means but he said that you'd know." Triple H explained hastily because he could see the others were getting impatient with him.

"And what the hell did he tell you to tell me?" The current WWE-Champion wanted to know, sounding as if he was at least listening and believing his words for now.

Triple H took a deep breath and then told him what Randy had asked him to tell John earlier in the locker room.

"He said to tell you that the shadow of the past has struck again." The Game still didn't get the meaning of those words but John obviously did because he looked almost panicked

"Oh shit. Where is he?" The Dr. of Thuganomics questioned frantically.  
"In the unused locker-room… but he's…" Hunter started and wanted to say more but John wouldn't let him because he was already nearly out of the room.

The man looked at Batista and Alexandria to find out what they would do now. They looked at each other for a moment and Hunter could easily see how worried they both were and then they followed John quickly.

Hunter did as well because he had no idea what else to do and he desperately wanted to find out what had happened to Randy.

It wasn't too easy to keep up with the Dr. of Thuganomics and before they had caught up with him he vanished into the locker room and closed the door behind him.

Batista was the next to arrive and pulled the handle but found out that the door was locked.

"It's locked…" He stated unnecessarily. Alexi looked at Dave in concern.

She took a step forward and knocked.  
"John? Randy? Please open the door." She pleaded.

It took a moment before John answered. It wasn't however the answer she'd hoped she'd get.

"Sorry Alexi… this is something that needs to stay between me and Randy…"

"But John…" Alexandria started and was about to say more, when she felt Dave's hand on her shoulder.

"Alexi, calm down… John knows how to handle Randy. He's his best friend and they're like brothers… so Randy is in good hands for now… and if it's something we need to worry about John will tell us…"  
Reluctantly Alexandria nodded. She could see the reason behind the Animal's words and if she was honest with herself there was nothing else she could do right now.

So she leaned against the wall beside the door, hoping that the two men would come out of the room soon.

Just now she realised that the two weren't alone and Hunter was still standing there, his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking at the two with a passive expression on his face.

Batista felt anger well up when he looked at the careless posture of the older man.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Batista questioned furiously, grabbing the collar of Hunter's shirt.

Alexandria watched shocked, hoping that the two wouldn't start fighting here in the hallway.

But to her, and probably Batista's surprise as well, Hunter just stood there, calmly facing he furious Animal.

"As I told ya earlier Dave I didn't do anything… and if I had done something I certainly wouldn't have gone seeking your help in tending to Randy…" Triple H stated, making perfect sense to Alexi's and Batista's ears.

Dave was so surprised at his answer that he let go of him and took a step backwards.

"Sorry…" He offered even though it was hard to tell Hunter that he was sorry after everything the Cerebral Assassin had put him and especially Randy through in the last months.

He was even more surprised when Hunter just shrugged. "It's okay… I know you're just worried about Randy… tell him I hope he gets well soon…"

And with that he turned around and walked down the hall, leaving Batista and Alexi stare after him in awe.

"That was weird…" Alexandria slowly said.

"It definitely was." Dave agreed and was about to say more when the door to the locker room was yanked open and Randy ran blindly past them with no shirt on.

Alexandria stiffened and Batista laid a comforting arm around the girls shoulder.

"It's going to be okay…" He whispered and looked at John, who exited the room shortly after Randy.

* * *

"Oh my god Randy…" John gasped and quickly ran over to his best friend who was still lying on the ground with his eyes half closed and John wasn't sure if he was conscious or not. 

Seconds later he was glad that he'd locked the door when he heard Alexandria yell.

"John? Randy? Please open the door."

For a second John was tempted to let her in when he heard the pleading tone of her voice but he was sure that the sight of Randy in this state would shock her more than being in the dark until he'd cleaned the young Orton up at least a little bit.

"Sorry Alexi… this is something that needs to stay between me and Randy…" He yelled back while he crouched down beside Randy, gently tapping him on the cheek, careful not to touch the nasty bruise on his face.

"But John…" Alexandria called from outside the door but suddenly she stopped and John hoped that Dave was out there with her, taking care of Alexandria, so he decided to ignore her and he had the peace and quiet to help Randy.

Right at this moment the Legend Killer began to stir.

"John?" He questioned and his voice sounded awfully week to Cena's ears.

"I'm here Randy… what happened? I thought you were meeting Vince?"

He wanted to know, walking over to one corner where a first-aid kit hung on the wall.

The Dr. of Thuganomics took it and quickly went back to Randy.

The young Orton groaned and tried to sit up. "No you're staying down." John said sternly and laid a hand on Randy's shoulder but quickly drew back when the young Orton hissed in pain.

"Take your shirt out." John demanded while he prepared a bandage to clean the cut on Randy's face.

"John… it's not that bad…" The young man started but the look on John's face told Randy that there was no arguing on this part so he slowly peeled off his shirt with great difficulties, unconsciously confirming John's suspicions.

The current WWE-Champion was about to ask something but was cut off when he saw Randy's chest. There were bruises all over his ribcage and abdomen and they looked really painful.

John decided to ignore it for now and carefully cleaned the wound on Randy's face.

"So now finally tell me what happened?"  
"The same as this morning." Randy answered curtly and winced when the cool cloth made contact with the bruise on his cheek.

"Only now there was more time and no witnesses." The tone of the Legend Killer's voice was almost passive and John felt himself drawn back to their teenage years. He had been in this position way too often back then, sitting in Randy's room, cleaning his cuts and helping him hide the bruises from all the others.

_ I'm not going to let it happen this time… _John promised himself. He had been way too young to know how to deal with the situation the right way but he wouldn't make this mistake again.

"Randy… this is it… I'm not going to watch it anymore. I'm not going to stand aside and watch you destroying yourself or better let you be destroyed…" He started but Randy cut him off quickly.

"No John… why don't you understand that people just can't know… it will only get worse if people know. Please don't tell them…" Randy pleaded, looking at John through half opened eyes and the way the Legend Killer looked right now, nearly tore John apart.

Randy was for him the little brother and he was really protective of the slightly younger man especially since he knew all about Randy's past.

"But Randy… you're hurting and you're not the only one who's hurting… Alexi, me, Dave and the others are worried sick about you and seeing you in pain hurts us too. In fact it's tearing us apart." John tried to reason with the younger man, while putting ice he'd found in a freezer in the room on a particularly nasty looking bruise on his chest.

Even though he was half expecting Randy to react drastically, he wasn't prepared for this kind of reaction.

"Damn JC… you just don't understand it do ya? I don't want others to know… I can handle it alone… I've handled it alone for eighteen years now… a few weeks won't make a difference now…"

The Legend Killer then shoved him out of the way, sprung to his feet and bolted for the door, unlocking it quickly and running past Alexi and Batista without even acknowledging them.

John tried to follow him but decided it was best to leave him alone for now and he saw that Alexandria and Dave probably needed an explanation or they'd go crazy with worry.

So he watched him go with a sigh looked at Alexandria and Dave with sadness in his eyes.

Randy's girlfriend looked as if she'd start crying every second now and the Animal had a reassuring arm around her shoulder.

"John, please tell me what happened in there? And please tell me the truth." Shawn's daughter pleaded and John ran a wary hand over his face.

"Alexi… there's nothing I want to do more than tell you but I just can't…" He told her quietly with a hint of desperation in his voice.  
Batista could easily see that it tore John apart that he had to choose where his loyalties were in this situation.

With Randy, his best friend or with Alexandria, a girl he knew he had feelings for even though he tried to pretend that he hadn't.

And for a moment he hated Randy for doing this to John but when he remembered how the Legend Killer had looked seconds earlier and what John had told him yesterday the anger vanished as quick as it had come. He knew the Legend killer didn't do it on purpose, he probably didn't know how to handle the situation differently.

"But John… why did Randy storm past us as if death's after him… half naked at that." Dave questioned, hoping that John would at least answer this question.

The shoulders of the Dr. of Thuganomics slumped and he confessed: "I probably said something I shouldn't have… and I pushed for an answer when I should have known better than to press the issue."

Alexandria felt the tears well up in her eyes when she thought of the state her boyfriend was in and when she saw how lost John looked right at the moment she just couldn't take it anymore.  
"Oh John… what went wrong today?" She questioned with tears in her eyes and threw herself in John's arms.

The Dr. of Thuganomics was a little stunned at first and put his arms around Alexandria a little awkwardly, looking at Dave, who just gazed at them with a passive expression on his face which didn't betray his thoughts.

"Shh… Alexi… calm down… everything will be alright… " He tried to soothe the desperate girl.

Batista just stayed silent and waited until Alexandria had calmed down a little.

"I know it's not the most sensitive thought right now but John, we probably should get back to the photo shoot… it'll get our mind off of things and will stop Vince from strangling us." He said carefully, hoping that they wouldn't get mad.

But obviously they saw the reason behind his suggestion because Alexi nodded slowly, rubbing her already red eyes to wipe the last tears away, stepping a little away from John.

The Dr. of Thuganomics nodded too and let go of the girl, even though a little reluctantly but he quickly rid himself of that thought.

"It's probably for the best right now…" He agreed with Dave.

"And I'll go see if I can find Randy… perhaps he'll talk to me later… or at least go out with me to get his mind on other things too." Alexandria said hopefully, even though she didn't think it would actually work but she felt the need to at least try.

"If you see him, please tell him not to worry… I respect his wishes… he'll know what I mean…" John pleaded, hoping that Randy would tell Alexi without him having to interfere.

"Of course I will John…" With that Alexandria stood on her tiptoes and gave John a little peck on the cheek.  
"Thanks for caring and thanks for being there John." She said with a small smile on her lips.

John was too stunned to say something so he just nodded at first.

"That's what friends are for." Cena told the girl with a half smile of his own.

"Well then I guess… see you guys for dinner…" And with that Alexi once again started to walk around the arena in search for Randy.

John and Batista watched her go. As soon as she was out of sight, the Dr. of Thuganomics softly touched his cheek where Alexi had kissed him.

_ Damn… I can't have feelings for her… it's just not possible… _ He cursed in his thoughts.

Batista of course had realised what John was thinking about but didn't say anything about it.

_ That's the last thing John needs right now… _ The Animal thought and wondered where all this would lead. The only thing he knew was that something was definitely going to happen in the next days and Batista wasn't sure if he liked that thought much.

He shook himself of these thoughts.

_ I guess we'll have to wait and see… _ He decided even though he didn't really like just sitting and waiting for things to happen.

"Come on John… let's go back to the shooting and get it over with." Dave finally said, trying to get their thoughts away from Randy and Alexi for a while.

John nodded and together they walked back down the hall to their photo shoot where people were waiting impatiently for them to finish.

* * *

to be continued...  



	7. Scars

Author's note: Hey people 'hugs all' I'm back with a new chapter... and I hope you all like it...

**Zanderlover: **Hey there girl... I officially hate my mailing system... or there really is someone in a conspiracy against us... I guess my last mails didn't reach you... again 'frustrated sigh' I guess I'm going to try mailing you through the review system again... hoping that this works... 'hugs' I hope you enjoy reading it...

But now on to the chapter...

Disclaimer: Don't own anything in this story besides my OC's...

**

* * *

Chapter 7: Scars

* * *

**

Randy ran blindly down the hall. He didn't know where he was going. The only thing he wanted was to get as far away from John and the others as possible.

Since he didn't really know where he was going, he suddenly ran into somebody.

The young Orton wasn't prepared for that and the other person obviously wasn't either, so they both tumbled to the ground.

"Shit Randy. Didn't you see the signs 'running forbidden'?"

Randy looked up and looked directly into Shawn Michael's face. Marissa Reed-Michaels stood, looking down at them, laughing a little, but she quickly stopped when she saw the pained expression on the Legend Killer's face. Randy had a hand on his chest and his breathing was uneven.

Shawn was already back on his feet and just now took in the state of Randy. He paled a little and extended a hand to help the Legend Killer up.

Randy reluctantly took it and let himself be helped up.

Shawn wasn't one to avoid a certain topic so he got straight to the point.

"Damn Randy, why are you running around half naked and who did that to you?" He questioned, referring to all the bruises on Randy's face and chest.

"None of your business… and now if you'd excuse me… I'm in a hurry." And with that he walked past his girlfriend's parents and disappeared down the hall, hoping that Shawn wouldn't follow him. He knew that HBK could be very persistent if he wanted to be.

A quick look over his shoulder told him that he'd escaped the interrogation for now because Marissa and Shawn were nowhere to be seen.

Randy slowed down his pace a little and tried to catch his breath but it hurt and the young Orton feared that one of his ribs might be broken.

_ Shit… I seriously hope they're not… The last thing I need right now is having to explain my injuries to Martha. _

Another thought suddenly occurred to him.

_ And what the hell am I going to tell Vince? I mean there's no way he and the others won't notice the bruises. _

"Oh fuck…" he cursed, slamming his fist against the wall.

Suddenly a voice could be heard behind him. "Stop that Randy… you'll only hurt yourself more."

Randy spun around and looked directly at Triple H, who was leaning against the opposite wall, looking at him intently.

At first the young Orton was tempted to give a harsh reply but then he remembered that Triple H had actually tried to help him before, so his conscience won over his bitterness towards the Game and he softly said: "Thanks for your help earlier…"  
If Hunter was surprised at his words he didn't let it on.

He just shrugged. "It was the least I could do."

Randy nodded slowly.

"But what's gotten you all worked up again? Or did ya just test the static of the arena for fun?" Hunter wanted to know.

Despite the situation, Randy found himself chuckling a little but then he shrugged again, having no idea what to tell the Cerebral Assassin.

But apparently his face told everything.

"You're thinking about what to tell the others, well except John, who seems to know everything, where you got the bruises from, am I right?" Hunter wanted to know.

Randy looked at him in surprise. He couldn't believe how well Hunter still knew him after all that had happened.

He had no idea what to say to that so he just nodded.

"I understand that you don't really want to tell the truth… I don't know why though but it's none of my business… so all I'm going to do now is offer you a plausible excuse for the others."

Now Randy was totally surprised. Before he could say something, Triple H continued: "If it helps you to keep your secret you can tell people that we've gotten into a fight that has gotten a little out of control and if someone asks me about it, I'll stick with it… people will believe that."

The Legend Killers eyes widened even more. This conversation with Triple H seemed a little surreal to him.

"But you know that some people will get very mad that you've hurt their golden boy… so why are you trying to help me? And where's the catch?" Randy said, his voice sounding a little bitter, like Hunter noticed.

And Triple H had no idea why RKO was suddenly so bitter about his third Generation Wrestler gimmick.

He decided to find out later and instead just said: "Well, let's say I want to start to make it up to you… and when have I ever cared about what others think?"

Hunter sighed a little. "And to answer your question there's no catch."

"Um… well then… thanks… I guess…" Randy stuttered a little helplessly.

"You don't have to thank me… after all that's what friends are here for."

And with that Hunter walked down, leaving a very confused Legend Killer behind.

_ Friends… _ Randy tried to recall the last time Hunter had actually called him a friend.

_ I can't even remember falling through the rabbit hole… _ He thought, shaking his head in confusion.

"Hey there Randy…" Another voice called from behind.

The young Orton just groaned in confusion.

_ What is this? 'Stalking Randy day'? _He wondered, putting a fake smile on his face before turning around.

"Hey Chris." He said looking at Jericho who had suddenly appeared behind him. For a moment Randy feared that Martha was with him but to his relief she wasn't.

"Where's Martha?" He questioned before Y2J could comment on his injuries.

"She's working… actually she told me to tell you that your results have arrived in case I see you.

_ Shit… _ Randy swore in his thoughts. With all that had happened today he had totally forgotten about the tests Martha had run.

Chris saw the Legend Killer's worry and asked in concern: "Randy, are you okay? I mean Martha naturally wouldn't tell me what results she was talking about… and why are you looking like you just had the living shit beaten out of you?"  
_ Perhaps because I have… _ He mused in his thoughts but wasn't ready to tell Chris what he was thinking.

"Oh… I've just gotten into a little fight with Trips… it's nothing to worry about. And Martha has just run some tests because of the headaches I've been having lately… again… nothing to worry about."

Chris seemed everything but convinced but he knew that pressuring Randy was never a good idea.

"Well then… thanks for the information… anything else you need or want to tell me?" Randy was eager to get rid of Chris. Not that he disliked Chris or anything like that but the longer he stayed here in the hall the greater was the chance that more people would see the bruises on his chest and he honestly didn't need that.

Chris was a little taken aback by Randy's reaction but he shook his head slowly.

"No, that's all for now…"  
"Okay… thanks… do you have any idea when it's best to go and visit Martha?" The Legend Killer questioned. He didn't want to run into anymore wrestlers when going to see the doctor. He knew they would only worry about him and Randy didn't need their concern.

_ I can handle this alone and they will only make things more complicated for me… _ He thought.

"I don't really know… she just told me it should be as soon as possible…"  
_ Great… that means she found something… just what I need… _ Randy thought sarcastically.

"Okay… well then I guess I'll see you later…" And without another word he walked down the hall, leaving Jericho staring after him in confusion.

When Jericho was out of sight, Randy leaned against the wall, taking a few deep breaths to get himself under control.

"So what am I going to do now?" He muttered and looked down onto the ground.

"Perhaps put a shirt on first before I do something else…" He added sarcastically.

_ But where do I get one… mine is in the locker room and I'm not sure if going back there is such a good idea… _

Randy sighed a second time and leaned his head backwards again until it was resting against the wall.

He pondered his options for a while and then he decided to just borrow one of John's shirts.

His locker room was the nearest and he was sure his best friend wouldn't mind and hopefully he wasn't there right at the moment because a discussion with him was the last thing he needed.

So after a quick glance around to check if he'd run into other wrestlers he started down the hall towards John's locker room.

Just to be sure, Randy knocked and when nobody answered he entered the room, looking around for a second. He found one of the typical Chain-Gang shirts.

"Well not my favourite colour but better than nothing…" He joked a little just to feel better a little.

The Legend Killer slipped on the shirt and looked at himself in the mirror to see if any of the bruises on his chest showed.

When he saw his appearance he knew why all of the others had worried about him.

The young Orton was awfully pale and the bruises on his cheeks were a dark contrast to that and he in general looked very tired and if he was serious he wanted nothing more than just crawl back into bed and not see anyone for the rest of the day.

But he knew that just wasn't possible. For now he needed to go see Martha and find out what was wrong with him.

So with a sigh he left John's locker room, feeling a little safer now that people couldn't see the state his chest and back was in.

Randy had decided to not tell Martha about his ribs and his speculation that they might be broken. It was bad enough if she saw the bruises on his face there would be enough questions and Randy realised that he needed to thank Triple H for giving him this excuse.

He'd just bandage his ribs up at the hotel room and that would've to do. The only problem was he needed to persuade Vince to let him wrestle with a shirt for once so that people wouldn't see the bruises and the bandages.

He stopped in front of Martha's office door and listened for a second to be sure that nobody else was in there. When he didn't hear anything he knocked.

"Yeah? Come in?" Randy heard Martha call and slowly opened the door.

"Hey there Martha. Chris told me you wanted to see me."  
"Oh, hey there Randy… I didn't expect you so soon." Dr. Cormela said and looked up from the paperwork she was doing.

Randy was about to reply something when Martha gasped on seeing the wounds on his face.

"Damn Randy… what happened?" She questioned, standing up and walking over to him.

She carefully touched the Legend Killer's face and checked the wounds.

"Oh that's nothing… just a little run in with Hunter…" Randy said dismissively.

"Sit down… I'll take care of that wound on your left cheek or it will perhaps become inflamed."

Randy reluctantly sat down. He didn't want people to make a fuss about his injuries. He just wanted to forget about them but he also knew that it probably was for the best when Martha took care of the wound because it really hurt he had to admit.

After Martha had finished cleaning the cut on Randy's cheek, she looked at the young Orton.

"And now back to the reason why you actually came here." The young doctor said and decided not to comment on Randy's injuries further.

"So Doc, what's the prognosis?" He wanted to know.

"Well… actually there's good news and there's bad news…" Martha started.

"Please the good news first… I guess then it's easier to accept the bad news." Randy tried to joke. The young Orton didn't really like the direction this conversation was taking and in addition to that, Martha's stoic expression worried him.

"Well… the good news is that your blood sample came back negative… that means you're totally healthy in regard to that… unfortunately that means we need to run some more tests to get to the bottom of your headaches…" Dr. Cormela began and Randy wasn't sure if he should or shouldn't be happy about that.

"And I'd like to send you to the hospital for a few days to run the tests… as soon as possible." Martha finished her explanation.

"What? No way…" Randy shouted and stood up from his chair.

"The others will find out that something's wrong if I go to hospital and as I told you earlier I don't want to worry them."  
Martha wasn't surprised or shocked at the young Orton's outburst and just stated calmly: "Randy… I can understand that you don't want to worry the others but they're already worrying about you. And Randy… I don't want to frighten you but if there's really something wrong with you I guess it's better to find out as soon as possible…"  
Randy sunk down into the chair and buried his head in his hands for a second before he looked up at Martha again.

"I know Martha… but this is way more complicated than you think."  
Dr. Cormela sighed a little. This was going to be harder than she had thought.

She crouched down in front of the man and laid a hand on Randy's shoulder.

"I don't really understand why it's complicated but I trust your word and I guess I can offer you a deal."

Randy relaxed a little. "And what?"

"Well… I can make an arrangement with the hospital to run the tests so you won't have to stay there… but you need to promise me that you'll rest the whole day after you have had the tests run… and that you will tell John… if not anybody else then please tell at least John so he can drive you to the hospital and back to the hotel… because I guess you're not necessarily in the shape to drive…" Martha said seriously, trying to make Randy understand how important that was. She had figured out by now that John probably knew more about this whole mess than anybody else did.

Randy nodded slowly. The young Orton had realised that it was really necessary to have these tests run.

"But Martha, what the hell is wrong with me?" He questioned, his voice sounding weak.

For the first time ever since Randy had entered her office, Martha smiled.

"Well from the look of it I guess it's nothing serious and I just want to make sure that I'm right…" She explained.

"Oh… okay…" Randy nodded somewhat relieved.

"So are you okay with that deal?" Martha questioned, just to be sure.

"Yeah… well I guess I don't really have another option… do I?"

"Well not really…" Martha smiled a little.

"Okay… then I'll make an appointment with the hospital for tomorrow, tell them about the special circumstances and then I'll call you for the exact time when you have to be at the hospital…"

"Thanks Martha… the only question is what I'm going to tell Vince… I mean I'm scheduled to have a fight with Edge tomorrow evening." Randy told the young doctor.

"Don't worry about Vince… I'm going to tell him that you just need your rest after your breakdown yesterday… remember, you still have a concussion." Martha reminded the Legend Killer.

"Thanks again Martha… well then goodbye for now and I'm waiting for your call… please don't tell anybody about it."  
"You should know that I as a doctor am not allowed to betray my patient's confidence and in addition to that I honour my friend's wishes." Martha replied.

"Yeah… I know… I just wanted to make sure… I'm a little edgy right now. Sorry…"

"It's okay…" Martha assured him.

"So I better go now… I'll hear from you later." With that Randy left Dr. Cormela's office.

* * *

Alexandria was still walking around the arena, searching for Randy, but her boyfriend seemed to have vanished or he was effectively hiding. Alexi had started to believe in the second option because Randy's mobile was also turned off. 

With a sigh the girl asked the sixth wrestler she'd come across so far if he'd seen Randy.

RVD just shook his head.

"Sorry Alexi, I can't help you there… I haven't seen Randy all day."

"Well thanks nonetheless Rob… if you see him, tell him to call me because I'm looking for him." Alexi explained, her worry increasing with every wrestler telling her that they hadn't seen Randy.

RVD obviously sensed that the girl was troubled because he asked: "Are you okay Alexi?"  
"Yeah… I'm fine… I'm just worried about Randy… He won't tell me what's going with him in the last days."  
"So you also don't know what's wrong with him?" Rob questioned.

Alexi shook her head.

"Damn… and here we were hoping you would know so that there's at least someone Randy hasn't shut out because judging by John's mood Randy also won't tell him what's going on."  
"Huh? And who's 'we'?" Alexi questioned, not really surprised that RVD had noticed something was wrong with Randy.

"Well 'we' means almost the whole RAW roster and even some SmackDown guys who normally are in regular contact with Randy but haven't heard a single word from him in the last weeks… the last time he's acted like this was when he and Stacy broke up. And it took him a long time to get over that… in fact he's only fully gotten over it when he met you…" RVD explained.

Alexandria rubbed her face warily.

"So I've been told…" She admitted, but she still didn't believe that she'd had such a first impact on the young Orton.

"But back then we at least had an idea what was wrong. As for now we don't have the slightest clue… but I reckon it must be bad if he doesn't even tell you."

"I guess John knows what's wrong…" Alexi informed van Dam, remembering the locker room encounter earlier. Rob van Dam nodded.

"I figured as much… but it's tearing John apart as well…" He explained. RVD had observed the two best friends in the last two days and John looked almost as pale and nearly as tired as Randy did, well except for the bruises perhaps.

Rob had noticed the black eye even though Randy had worn the sunglasses but he hadn't thought much about it since wrestler often had bruises from a move gone slightly wrong but when he thought about it now it was a little weird.

"Well I guess I better go and continue my search." Alexi finally said. RVD nodded.

"And if I see Randy I'll tell him that you're looking for him."  
"Thanks Rob." With that Alexi started to walk down the hall, when Rob's voice stopped her again.

"Oh and Alexi… let us know if there's something we can do for you or for Randy. I and the guys will gladly help if you let us."

"Thanks again Rob. See ya…" With that Alexandria finally walked away, continuing her search.

_ Perhaps he's gone for a run again because he's having another headache and now he's already back at the hotel… _

With that Alexi quickly called a cab and drove back to the hotel.

And really when she entered the lobby of the hotel her search for the young Orton ended.

But to her surprise he wasn't alone. Alexandria's eyes widened a little when she saw who was with him.

"Oh my god Dhani…" She squealed happily, forgetting her worry for a second, running over to the girl and hugging her tightly.

* * *

After Randy had left Martha's office again, he had really decided to go for a run so he quickly drove back to the hotel, changing into his jogging attire. 

When he pulled of John's shirt he winced a little when he saw the now purple bruises all over his chest. Before he left the room again, he quickly bandaged his ribs so they wouldn't hurt too much. It wasn't a problem for Randy because he'd learned to patch himself up without others noticing in the past and without others helping him.

He went back down into the lobby and felt slightly better than before because his hips didn't hurt with every step.

Randy was about to leave the hotel when his attention was suddenly drawn to the reception when he heard a woman talking to the receptionist in an exasperated voice.

"Please, would you tell me her room number or at least call to see if she's up there…"

The receptionist shook his head sternly.

"I'm sorry Miss, but I can't tell you. We're not allowed to tell random fans the room numbers of our guests."  
The girl let out a frustrated groan and Randy had the feeling that it took all her willpower not to slam her head on the reception.

"I'm not just some random fan… I have known her for years…" she nearly screamed.

"She even booked a room in this hotel for me."

"You won't believe how often I've heard that story by now, Miss." The receptionist said calmly.

Randy shook his head and wondered if this was Alexi's friend Dhani.

_Well I guess I can find out. _With that he walked over to the reception.

"Excuse me but do you happen to be Dhani McMillan?" He questioned.

The young woman nodded while turning around. "Yes I am…" She was about to say more when she suddenly recognised who'd just called her name.

"Oh my god… you're Randy Orton…." She stuttered. The Legend Killer just grinned and then turned to the receptionist. He knew the young man by now.

"It's okay Mike…" He told the young man.

"She really is an old friend of Alexi. My girlfriend booked a room for this girl here…" He explained.

The receptionist looked into his computer again. "Oh yeah… now I've found it… Dhani McMillan, room 701. Sorry for that Mr. Orton… I was just…."

"…doing your job. I understand that." The young Orton assured Mike and then took the key and handed it to Dhani who was still staring at Randy in awe.

The Legend Killer realised that the young woman was too stunned to move so he took her arm and guided her a little away from the reception.

"So you're the famous Dhani McMillan Alexi has been talking about non stop since you called her yesterday?" Randy broke the silence.

"And you're Randy Orton… the youngest World Heavyweight Champion ever…" Dhani stated, still awe-struck.

She had always been a huge wrestling fan, one thing she and Alexi never had talked about, so she of course had recognised the young Orton at once.

"Yepp… that would be me… but you can call me Randy…" He grinned.  
"Nice to meet you Dhani." He took her hand in his and shook it in greeting.

Suddenly and before any of the two could say something a squeal from behind broke the silence.

"Oh my god Dhani…"

And with that Dhani found herself enveloped in a big hug by Alexi.

* * *

to be continued  



	8. Reunions

Author's note: Hey guys... sorry it took me so long but university is keeping me really busy and I'm going to write five tests next week so wish me luck 'hugs all'  
And you guys have fun reading 'smile'

Disclaimer: Nothing in this story you recognise from the shows belongs to me... only Alexi, Martha, Marissa and Dhani do 'sigh'

* * *

**Chapter 8: Reunions**

**

* * *

**

When the two broke the hug, Dhani took a deep breath and answered: "Hey there Lex…"

"I didn't expect you so soon. I thought you had to have your car repaired and that would take a while."

Alexi looked questioningly at the girl and Dhani just smiled.

"Well the repair didn't take half as long as they expected at first so I'm here already."

Just now Alexandria realised that Randy was standing beside them, giving the two girls the time to say 'hello' to each other.

Shawn's daughter smiled at Randy, who smiled back. The look on Alexi's face told him however that she wanted to talk about what had happened earlier in the locker room but for now other things were more important.

"I reckon you have met Randy already?" Alexi asked.

"Yes I have… he helped me out earlier when Mike, the receptionist didn't believe me I'm your friend and know you and didn't want to give me the keys to my room." Dhani explained, grinning brightly.

"But Lex… I didn't know you were famous and since when is Randy Orton your boyfriend?" Dhani asked all the questions that came to her mind.

Alexi just grinned a little.

"That's part of what I didn't want to tell you over the phone… and besides I'm not as famous as you think I am… but nonetheless you're looking at the newest RAW Diva."

Dhani opened and closed her mouth a few times before she was finally able to say something.

"You're kidding right?" was all she managed to say.

"Nope… I'm not… I've gotten the job because John, Chris, Randy and my dad Shawn convinced Vince McMahon that I'd be a good diva…"

"Your dad? Randy, John and Chris?" Dhani felt like she was in some parallel universe.

"Who are you and what have you done to the real Alexandria who hated wrestling with a passion I've never seen before?"

"Um… this Alexi doesn't exist anymore, since I know that wrestlers aren't that bad and besides my dad and my boyfriend are wrestlers so who am I to object to that profession?" Alexi questioned, grinning at the confused expression on Dhani's face.

"Your dad… but you always told me you don't know who your dad is… and what wrestler are you talking about… who's named Shawn? Wait… Reed-Michaels… and Shawn… don't tell me you're talking about HBK Shawn Michaels… you're not going to tell me that the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels is your dad?"

"The one and only…" Alexi confirmed, enjoying herself a little.

"You better start telling me the whole story and quick or I'm going to tell Randy all about the swimming-pool incident." Dhani threatened jokingly, knowing that Alexi knew exactly what she was talking about.

"You wouldn't…" Alexi complained, knowing that Dhani was only half serious.

"Of course I would."

"What swimming-pool incident?" Randy asked curiously, his interest awoken when he looked at the expression on Alexi's face.

"Well… it was a few years ago…" Dhani started and Alexi quickly clapped a hand over her best friend's mouth.

"It's nothing handsome." She told him with a bright smile on her face.  
Then she turned to Dhani again.

"Are you going to shut up when I take my hand away and tell you all you want to know?"

Dhani nodded.

"As much as I'd like to hear about this incident I understand that Dhani wants to hear more about the last weeks… but I still think we shouldn't talk here… what about moving this into the restaurant… I'll treat you to a nice meal?" Randy suggested.

"That's a word…" Dhani agreed, feeling a little hungry after her journey to Washington.

And Alexi agreed too, knowing that talking in private was the better option.

So the three found a comfortable little table in the corner of the restaurant a little away from the other tables.

Before Alexi started to tell her story Randy ordered a drink for each of them.

When they were comfortable and had their drinks Alexandria finally started to tell what had happened.

Dhani listened in awe and opened and closed her mouth a few times after Shawn's daughter was finished because she had no idea what to say to that story.

"So Shawn Michaels is your father? And your mother and he have married? And you and Randy are a couple? And you're the newest RAW Diva?" Dhani asked, summarizing the story in the four most important points.

Alexi just nodded and was about to say more, when Randy suddenly stood up from his chair.

"Excuse me for a moment, will ya?" He questioned and without waiting for an answer walked over to a table where Hunter and Chris Jericho were just having an argument that was about to turn into a physical fight.

Alexi and Dhani waited for a moment but when they heard Randy yelling at Chris, Alexi was on her feet.

"I want to know what's going on…" She said and walked over to the table, followed by Dhani, but before she could say or do something, Randy stormed off without a word.

Confused and hurt she asked: "What happened Chris?"

* * *

RVD was just chatting with Tyson Tomko and Adam Copeland better known as Edge when Chris Jericho stomped down the hall, a very furious expression on his face.

"Hey there Y2J, what's the hurry and who's gotten you pissed off this time?" Rob called to get the other man's attention.

Jericho indeed stopped. "Has anyone of you seen Triple H?" He questioned.

"What has he done this time?" Edge asked interested.

"Anyone of you happened to run into Randy today?" Y2J replied.

"I've seen him earlier with Alexi and a girl I don't know… he looked like crap and the bruises on his face were hardly not noticeable" Adam admitted.

"These are not the only bruises he carries… his chest is more bruise than skin." Y2J explained.

"So why are you pissed off at Hunter then?" Adam asked, still confused.

"Take a guess." Was all Chris said to that.

"Woah… wait a second… you're not telling me that Hunter was the one who gave him the bruises?" RVD asked, looking shocked. Sure it was an open secret that Hunter and Randy weren't the best of friends anymore but van Dam couldn't believe that Triple H would do something like that.

"Yeah…" Jericho confirmed.

"But how do you know?" Adam wanted to know, his hands clenched into fists.

"Randy told me so… well except for the fact that he said it was nothing important."

"So you're searching for Triple H to do what exactly?" RVD wanted to know, having a distinct idea what Y2J had in mind.

"To tell him what I think about what he's done." Chris smirked, his face clearly showing that he didn't just want to tell Triple H but show him too.

"You know what… I'm with you." Adam said and RVD nodded. Tyson had to stay back because he had an urgent press meeting soon.

So RVD, Jericho and Edge continued their search for Triple H and found him in the restaurant, talking to Sid Eudy and Ric Flair. To their surprise they also saw Randy, Alexi and a girl that they didn't know, sitting at the other end of the restaurant.

"That's good… so Randy sees that we're with him and that he doesn't have to put up with Hunter's ego alone." He muttered to himself and then called louder towards Hunter: "Hey Triple H… I think we've something to talk about."

Hunter looked up with a bored expression on his face.

"What do you want?" The Game questioned in a calm voice that somehow angered Chris even more.

"You know exactly what I wanna talk about!" Jericho yelled, trying his best to not attack Triple H right now.

"Honestly Jericho, I don't have the slightest idea what you think I've done to you this time." Now Triple H looked really confused.

"It's not about what you've done to me… it's about what you've done to Randy…" Chris spat furiously.

"Oh that… that's between Randy and me and it's none of your business…" The Cerebral Assassin was still calm, way too calm for RVD's and Edge's liking.

"Oh it's our business. Randy is our friend and we won't let you continue to walk all over him just because you think you have the right to do it." Rob told the other Wrestler, his voice sounding furious.

The only thing Hunter did was shrugging and that was the final straw for Chris. He lunged forward and punched Triple H hard.

The Game didn't have the time to prepare himself for the blow so his head flew backwards and his lip split slightly.

Jericho was about to strike again when suddenly a voice called angrily: "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

To RVD's surprise it wasn't Sid Eudy or Ric Flair to stand up to help Hunter. The two were still sitting in silence just watching the whole scene unfold.

No, it was Randy who had appeared beside them and stared angrily at the group and it took Chris a moment to realise that the angry question had been directed at him.

Y2J was about to say something, when Randy silenced him with a wave of his hand.

"No… just forget it… I don't wanna hear it." Then his tone changed from angry to concerned and he turned to Triple H.

"Are you okay Trips?"

Hunter smiled lightly and wiped away the blood from his lip with his hand.

"It's nothing rookie..:" He said almost softly.

Randy stared at Triple H for a moment, partly because he wanted to make sure that Hunter was really telling the truth and partly because he was surprised that Triple H had called him 'rookie'. He hadn't done that for a very long time. In fact Randy could hardly remember it.

Sure, Randy was hardly a rookie anymore but he had been when he and Hunter had first become friends.

And the Game had always called him 'rookie', not meant to insult the younger man but as a sign of their close friendship back then, just like Randy had always called Hunter 'Trips'. In fact the Legend Killer was the only one allowed to officially say 'Trips' and get away with it.

They had stopped calling each other these names when they had had that big argument that had destroyed their friendship. Since then they had hardly talked to each other and Hunter had just tried to make Randy's life as miserable as possible.

That Hunter had called him 'rookie' again was something Randy wouldn't have thought possible again.

Chris looked between Randy and Hunter and had no idea what to make of what he'd just seen.

"But Randy… how can you defend him after what he's done to you?" He finally asked, after having overcome his shock.

The young Orton looked at Jericho an unreadable expression on his face.

"First of all it's none of your business… second I told you earlier that it's no big deal and thirdly Hunter isn't the one to blame… it's my fault. I'm the only one to blame… it's been my fault for all my life. I just don't deserve better and I know that…" Randy's voice had wavered slightly in the last part and Chris could clearly see the hopelessness and defeat in the younger man's eyes.

Just now Randy realised that he'd said too much again. So he quickly mumbled: "Sorry… I totally forgot that I need to go and find John."  
And with that he literally fled from the restaurant, nearly running into John and Batista, but the Legend Killer didn't stop. He just grabbed John's arm and dragged the Dr. of Thuganomics along with him, leaving a confused Batista behind who started to walk over to Jericho and the others.

Alexi and the girl, Chris now recognised as Dhani, had come over too after seeing Randy storm out of the restaurant.

Shawn's daughter looked utterly confused.

"What happened Chris?"  
"I don't really know Alexi… I don't know." Jericho answered, squeezing the girl's shoulder comfortingly.

"It's just because you've once again stuck your nose into things that you have no right being in." Hunter commented, having regained his usual calmness but RVD thought he'd seen a hint of worry about Randy in his eyes.

Alexandria turned to Hunter. "You just shut up… I'm sure you're the main reason for this…" She accused.

"Sorry to disappoint you… but honestly it isn't my fault this time." Hunter said and smirked.

Alexi honestly looked like she'd repeat Chris's punch in Hunter's face but suddenly Dhani broke in: "Calm down Lex. I'm sure Randy just needed some fresh air."

Dhani tried her best to calm Alexandria down. And it was the first time the other wrestlers really looked at Dhani.

"And who is your friend?" Hunter questioned and smiled at Dhani who couldn't help but smile back.

Alexi didn't answer and instead grabbed Dhani's arm, dragging her back to their abandoned table indicating for RVD and Edge to follow, leaving Hunter to stare after them.

Batista joined them too and Alexi finally introduced Dhani to them.

* * *

"So what about getting something to eat? Photo shoots are always making me hungry." Batista wanted to know and looked at John. The Dr. of Thuganomics was so lost in thoughts that he didn't answer at first.

"John?" Batista tried again.  
"Huh? What?" Cena questioned.

"I was wondering if you wanna get something to eat."

"Yeah sure… food sounds good." The WWE-Champion agreed absentmindedly.

"You still worried about Randy?" Batista observed after a moment.

"Yeah… I guess I am… I'm just not used to this anymore…. It has all gotten so much better when he joined the WWE and hooked up with Stacy and later with Alexi… and now everything's going downhill again just because of Vince wanting more money so he had to make up that stupid storyline, ruining everything." John explained.

Batista looked at John in confusion, wondering what he was talking about.

He pushed open the door to the restaurant and was about to ask a question when Randy stormed past them, grabbing John's arm, dragging him along.

At first John was tempted to resist but one look into his best friend's eyes made him decide otherwise so he just followed the Legend Killer without hesitation and with a short apologetic look towards Batista. He was glad that he received a knowing nod in return.

When the two wrestlers reached a secluded part of the arena where they wouldn't be bothered too soon, Randy finally stopped and pressed his forehead against the wall, slamming his fist hard against the solid stonewall.

John watched in silence for a moment, waiting for his best friend to calm down on his own.

Finally, when Randy turned around, resting his back against the wall, John asked: "So, what happened?"

He knew from experience that this was the only question needed in such a situation when Randy was in that mood to get the Legend Killer to talk.

Indeed the young Orton sighed deeply and then started: "I guess I overreacted again and then I've said too much again…"

John raised an eyebrow in question. "And what exactly does that mean?"

"Well… I defended Trips from Chris, RVD and Adam… Chris was about to beat the hell outta Hunter." Randy started.

_ Wait a second? Randy defended Hunter? What is wrong in this picture? _ John wondered in his thoughts.

"And just exactly why did you defend him? And why did Chris attack him to begin with?" Obviously John had missed out on something important.

"Um well… after me storming off earlier after the encounter in the locker room I ran into Hunter and he offered me that I could tell people that he gave me the bruises and he'd stick to that story too so that I didn't have to tell the truth about what happened… and before you ask… no I have no idea why Hunter wants to help me…"

"But that's bullshit… we both know what happened earlier in the locker room…"

"Yeah… but I have to admit that I was glad for this easy excuse… it makes things easier than to tell people the truth. And so when I ran into Chris earlier I told him the story… I never thought that Y2J would react so drastic as to go and beat the hell outta Trips. When I saw him doing that, I actually had to stop him because I know that Hunter has nothing to do with it.

And well you know me and my infamous temper. I was way too harsh again and so Chris got even angrier at Trips because he probably suspected that Trips had a way to force me to say that. I tried to calm him down and tell him that Hunter wasn't the one to blame because it was my fault alone… and I nearly blurted out what really has happened… and I told them that it's been my fault my whole life that things like that happen to me… it's the truth but still they didn't need to know that and perhaps pity me… That was when I stopped myself and stormed off, luckily running into you because I really felt that I needed to talk to you and I need to ask you a huge favour."

With that Randy stopped, giving his best friend the time to sort out what he'd just said. And John had to admit that it was quite a lot to think about.

_ Hunter actually being nice to Randy, trying to help him without wanting something in return, that's weird. Randy wanting to help Hunter isn't that surprising … Randy's always trying to help people when he thinks that they're in trouble because of him…he should have anticipated that Chris would react like that… well, no, he probably thought his friendship doesn't mean enough to Chris so that Y2J would do something like that… _ Turning all this over in his head, noticing that Randy had started calling Hunter 'Trips' again without the usual sarcasm in his voice, John finally thought he had the picture of what had happened.

_ And all of this could be prevented easily if Randy would just tell people what's really happening… _ He mused but knew better than to actually tell Randy that because that would make matters worse.

So he just asked: "So you just left Alexi alone without telling her, hoping that Chris will take care of her and assure her that nothing's wrong."

Randy sighed deeply. "I just hope Chris will… I feel bad enough about just storming off without another word but if I'd stayed any longer I would've probably told her everything and that the last thing I want… it would only put her in danger…"

The young Orton quickly stopped himself, hoping that John wouldn't realise what these words meant, but as always the Dr. of Thuganomics immediately knew what was going on.

"Woah wait a second here RKO. Are you telling me that this is the reason you don't want to tell people? Is he threatening you again?" John laid a reassuring hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"That wouldn't be too bad, JC… I'm used to his threats by now… it's not me I'm worried about… but as long as people don't know there's no need to worry about them… I only worry about you right now because you know… but luckily he doesn't know that…" Randy said shortly and dismissively.

John had no idea what to reply to that because this was something he hadn't really expected.

_ You shouldn't worry about me… you should worry about yourself. _ John thought and decided not to comment on that now, but keep this words in mind so that he knew what he had to deal with.

Instead he asked: "And what was that favour you're asking for?"

Randy rubbed his temple. "Actually it's nothing big… I just need you to drive me to the hospital for some tests… and later back to the hotel, so that nobody will notice that I'm gone… and that I can rest because after those tests I'm not supposed to drive… at least that's what Martha's told me."

John just stared at his best friend. In the last few minutes Randy had dropped quite a few bombs on John and the WWE-Champion didn't really know how to handle that.

"Wait a second… what do you mean you need to go to the hospitals to have some tests run? And what kind of tests are these? I mean it sounds pretty serious when Martha told you to rest for a while."

"I don't know what kind of tests… Martha just told me that she wanted to run them so that she can find out why I'm getting these headaches. She actually wanted me to stay in the hospital for a few days but luckily I could prevent her from doing that because people would notice and worry… I made her promise that she wouldn't tell anyone and she made me promise that I would at least tell you so that I have someone who'll watch out for me if needed… please John promise me not to tell others."

John would've slapped Randy if he hadn't looked so damn weak and vulnerable right now.

So he just squeezed the other man's shoulder slightly and told him: "Randy… just in case you haven't noticed people are already worrying… but if it means that much to you I'll keep my mouth shut… but if they find something you need to promise me to tell Alexi."  
"Let's hope that they don't find anything." Randy said, running a hand through his hair.

"RKO? Is everything alright?" John asked and knew that Randy would understand the question the way it was meant.

The Legend Killer looked at John out of tired eyes.  
"I'm scared JC… I mean what if they find something… what if it's something serious? What am I going to do then and what am I going to tell Alexi? And how will I be able to handle it?"

For the first time John noticed the scared look in Randy's eyes and he knew that it wasn't because of the past but because of the future.

"Hey RKO… I'm sure they won't find anything… I guess Martha just wants to make totally sure that your headaches are only because of the stress like you always say."

"That's what she told me… but still…"  
"RKO, whatever they're going to find, if they find something, we're all here for you…"  
"Thanks JC… this really means a lot to me…" Randy admitted and smiled, feeling slightly better.

"Like I'm always telling you… that's what friends are here for." He said, squeezing the other man's shoulder again.

"If the fans could see you now your Legend Killer image would be ruined forever." John joked, hoping this would cheer the other man up at least a little bit.

"So I'll just be glad that they haven't seen it." Randy replied, a small grin actually gracing his lips.

"Well… good that this is all cleared up so you can go back to Alexi and apologise to her…"  
"I guess I really need to do that… but right now I guess she's catching up on old times with Dhani…" Randy explained. John knew who he was talking about and just smiled a little.  
"So she's already here? All the more reason to go back… I'd like to meet her too." He replied.

"I guess that can be arranged…" The young Orton grinned and the two made their way back to the restaurant where Chris, Alexi, Dhani, RVD and Dave were still sitting and talking. Adam was nowhere to be seen. Neither were Triple H, Ric Flair and Sid Vicious.

When Randy and John walked over to them, all conversation died down.

* * *

to be continued...  



	9. Conclusions

Author's note: Sorry that it took me so long to update... bad case of flu and writers block... and I know that this chapter is not the most interesting one (at least in my opinion) but it had to be done to keep the story going and I hope you're gonna enjoy it at least a little 'hugs all readers' Oh yeah... sorry for the unusual spacing between the two paragraphs but somehow the bar didn't work like it usually does... 'grins sheepishly'

Disclaimer: Nothing except my OC's belong to me...

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**Chapter 9: Conclusions**

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Alexi and the others had sat down around the table and none of them said anything because nobody had an idea what to say. Luckily Hunter, Sid and Ric had decided it was better to leave right now because they were definitely outnumbered.

All looked at Alexandria because they thought she'd probably know what was going on but she also looked utterly lost.

Chris had a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Can someone please explain what happened here?" Batista asked because the Animal had realised that he had missed something important.

"If we only knew Dave…" Chris sighed.

"And all I wanted to do was help him…" He muttered.

"Hey Chris, calm down… I guess there's something else to the story we don't know." Dhani said. It was the first time in a while that she had spoken.

"Dhani? Will you now tell me what you are doing here?" He questioned. He didn't really know Dhani all too well but he had seen her a few times when he'd been visiting Alexi and he knew that she was Alexi's closest friend besides him.

Just now Adam, Rob and Batista realised that they hadn't really been introduced to her.

Alexi seemed to realise that too, so before Dhani was able to answer, she quickly introduced the girl to Adam and RVD before she explained what she was doing here.

"Adam, Rob, this is one of my best friends Dhani McMillan and she's here because we want to catch up on old times since she's been out of the country for a while and a lot has happened." She explained.

The people at the table said 'hi' to each other.

Then the conversation turned back to Randy and John.

"So any idea what could be eating away at Randy?" Edge finally asked again but everybody shook his or her head.

"Perhaps it has something to do with Randy's headaches. They can make people moody…" RVD suggested.

Batista remembered the conversation he had had with John when they had returned from the club and wondered what it was that he was missing here.

"But they don't give you bruises…" Chris interjected.

"Yeah…but people do… so if it really wasn't Hunter then who was it?" RVD questioned, getting back to the earlier problem, concluding from Randy's words that Hunter really wasn't the one who gave the Legend Killer the bruises.

_ Damn… that's it… why didn't I see it earlier. _ Dave suddenly realised and cursed himself for not noticing earlier. Everything suddenly made sense.

He slammed his hand down on the table in frustration.

_ But before I say something I need to make sure that I'm right… _ He mused.

"Dave? Are you okay?" Alexi wanted to know, looking at the Animal in wonder.

"Yeah…" Dave couldn't say more because suddenly John and Randy returned to the table and nobody dared to speak a word.

That was when Batista made a decision. He'd never been really patient and so he figured now was the best time to find out if his conclusions were right.

So he got up from his chair, grabbed John's arm, much like Randy had done just minutes earlier, and dragged him away from the table, not listening to John's protests.

Alexi, Randy, Chris, RVD, Dhani and Adam watched them go in wonder.

"Seems like John is a really wanted person." Dhani said, having no other idea what to say.

Randy silently took the chair beside Alexandria, which Batista had just left.

He felt all the looks of his friends on him, particularly Alexi's and he really wished that John were still here to give him support because the Dr. of Thuganomics was the only one who knew what really was going on. The Legend Killer wanted nothing more than to just disappear and be invisible to their scrutinizing gazes.

"Are you okay?" Alexandria wanted to know, her concern far from gone because the Legend Killer looked awfully tired and the bruises on his face were a big, dark contrast to that.

"Yeah… just tired… this is just not my day and the concussion isn't completely over yet." Randy made another attempt at an excuse to get people's mind off his bruises.  
As he had feared it didn't really work.

"Come on Randy, don't you think that it's time to tell us the truth… we're your friends and we wanna help ya." Chris tried again.

Randy shook his head angrily, determined to not tell anything.

"Chris… what about the part that it's none of your business don't you understand? I'm going to say it to you one last time: I can handle that myself and it's not important okay?" He tried to sound angry but it was more desperation than real anger.

Alexandria noticed that too and it really hurt her that Randy didn't trust her enough to tell her the whole truth.

Jericho quickly held his hands up in defence.

"Sorry Randy, I didn't mean to offend you. I only want to help." He decided it was better to give up, at least for now before the young Orton would run away again.

_ I swear to god Orton, if you're starting to really hurt Alexi with your secrecy then I'm going to kick your ass… _ Y2J swore in his thoughts when he saw the hurt in Alexandria's eyes. But when he looked at the Legend Killer and how tired he looked, he immediately regretted that thought.

"It's okay… I know you only want to help, but this is something I really have to handle alone… and believe me when I tell you it's better that you're staying out of this." When Randy said those words he especially looked at Alexandria and Chris suddenly saw the concern in Randy's eyes but Y2J realised that it wasn't concern for Randy's safety but more for Alexi's well being.

_ What the hell is going on here? _Chris questioned in his thoughts, getting the feeling that there was a lot more to the whole story than they all realised.

His thoughts were interrupted when suddenly Alexi squealed happily.

"Mom! Dad!" With that she jumped out of her chair and ran over to Marissa Reed-Michaels and Shawn Michaels who had just entered the restaurant to hug them.

Dhani looked over to them, still amazed that Alexandria was really related to Shawn Michaels.

Dhani had always been a great fan of the Heartbreak Kid and she also had a hard time to adjust to the fact that she was sitting among a lot of famous wrestlers, who were treating her as one of their own and like they had known her for years and not only for hours.

The only thing that was dampening her high spirits was the fact that obviously something was very wrong with Randy and nobody knew what.

She was concerned about the Legend Killer but she was also really concerned about Alexi who took all of that really hard.

But Dhani couldn't help a smile on her lips and was glad that the visit of Alexi's parents seemed to take her mind off the problem at hand.

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John was just about to sit down when Batista grabbed his arm roughly and dragged him away from Randy and the others.

"Dave? What the hell? Can't you see that I was just about to sit down? So stop that and let go of me." He protested, knowing that Randy needed his support right now.

The Animal, however, didn't even answer, let alone loosening the grip on his arm.

_ What the hell is it today that people drag me from one place to the other without asking my permission? _The WWE-Champion mused, giving up any resistance and followed Batista more or less voluntarily.

Dave didn't stop until the two were in a quiet hallway. Only then he let go of John's arm and looked at the Dr. of Thuganomics.

"It's Bob Orton, isn't it?" He questioned sharply.

"Excuse me?" John asked in return, having no real idea what Dave wanted to say.

"Bob Orton is the one who beat Randy to a bloody pulp, isn't he? He is the 'Shadow of the Past', isn't he?" The Animal demanded angrily.

John was speechless for a second.

_ Damn… I should've known Dave would figure it out sooner or later… _ Cena cursed in his thoughts, having no real idea what to do now. He wasn't sure if he should deny the truth or if he should finally tell Dave everything.

_ But I promised Randy not to tell… _  
John was torn between the loyalty to Randy and the concern for the young Orton. Finally the concern won over the loyalty.

Batista was really getting impatient when John didn't answer his question.

He grabbed the collar of Cena's shirt.

"Damn it John, answer me…" He demanded furiously.

_ I'm sorry Randy but it's for your own good… Dave has figured it out anyway… _ John apologised in his thoughts and hoped the Legend Killer would forgive him if he found out.

"Dave… let go of me and I'm gonna tell ya." John said calmly because the grip Dave had on his shirt was starting to choke him a little.

Batista just now realised what he was doing and quickly let go of John's shirt.

"Sorry John… I was just so mad when I realised what's probably going on. And I'm sorry that I'm putting you into this position because I know you don't want to betray Randy's trust. I would've asked him myself but I thought this wouldn't be the best idea." The Animal apologised. John smiled thankfully because he knew that Batista was only concerned about Randy and that he only wanted the Legend Killer's best.

And Dave was right, asking Randy himself would surely make matters worse.

"So is it really Bob Orton?" Dave questioned when John didn't answer at once.

Cena sadly nodded.

"I really wish I could say no but unfortunately yeah… but tell me how did ya figure it out?"

"I don't really know… RVD said something and suddenly everything made sense… I remembered everything you've told me about Randy's behaviour and then I realised that this weird behaviour really started when Randy found out that his father was coming back…"  
"Don't…" John hissed.

"Don't what?" Batista wanted to know.

"Don't call this bastard Randy's father… he may be the 'creator', if you wanna call it that, but he certainly isn't his father… at least as far as I'm concerned."

Dave nodded. He could understand that and so he continued:

"Well… as I said, I realised this all really started back when Randy found out that Bob Orton was coming back. And the bruises on him started to appear when Bob joined the roster. And I also remembered that you said that it wasn't about what he has but about what Randy never had… so it suddenly hit me."  
John nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you. I knew you'd be smart enough to figure it out in the end." He told the Animal, only a little angry that Dave had found out. More than the anger, he felt the relief that he wasn't alone with this knowledge anymore.

"Thanks… but tell me why you shouldn't have told me? I mean if Bob Orton is hurting Randy we need to stop it." Batista couldn't understand the Dr. of Thuganomics.

"Dave… this is way more complicated than that… Randy is scared… he doesn't want us to know about it because he fears that Bob will hurt us too… I'm not totally sure but I fear Bob is threatening Randy that he'll hurt Alexi, me, you or anybody else Randy's close to if Randy tells people. It wouldn't be the first time." John explained.  
"I see… but still… if you give me five minutes alone with Bob Orton he'll never bother Randy again." Dave said, his hands balled into fists, barely suppressing his anger.

John laughed bitterly.

"You won't believe how often I've offered that to Randy in the last two years but for reasons unknown to me Randy still loves his father even after everything that bastard has done to him and doesn't want me to do anything."

Batista's eyes widened when he realised something else.

"That explains why Randy doesn't defend himself even though he'd probably be able to kick Bob's ass." Dave concluded.

"Yepp…" John said, leaning against the wall. He was exhausted now that he'd finally be able to tell somebody the whole truth and didn't have to carry that secret alone any longer.

Batista closed his eyes for a moment and then he looked at John again.

"But John, how do you know so much about all that? And how long has this been going on? I mean, yeah you told me that you found Randy after one of his suicide attempts but I would think that Randy didn't tell you about it."

Cena smiled sadly.

"At the point when I found him bleeding to death I had known for years… that was the reason I went over to Randy as often as I could to at least help him a little and protect him from his father. And as for how long this has been going on… well it all started when Randy was seven…"

Batista's eyes widened again.

"That means Bob has been abusing him for over sixteen years and nobody noticed?" He questioned, the disbelief evident in his voice.

John laughed bitterly again. "Bob Orton had enough money to buy silence if people noticed… and besides it wasn't always bad. There were times when Bob was at least only ignoring and not hurting Randy. In addition to that, there's one more thing you need to know: He didn't only beat him… he had other ways to hurt Randy even worse than with beating the hell outta him."

John didn't elaborate on this 'other ways' and Dave was afraid to ask, so he let it drop for now.  
"But… why did Bob Orton starting it in the first place? I mean… who would start hurting their child?" He asked instead. Dave had no idea how to react to that and he was really curious to hear John's explanation.

Cena shrugged, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Bob Orton blames Randy for some things that went wrong in his life." He finally said warily. This was something he just couldn't tell Batista in detail because he found it hard to believe himself.

Batista gasped at that.

"You're kidding right? How can you blame a seven year old child for things that go wrong in your life?" Dave asked, not really believing what he was hearing.

"Wish I was… and don't be mad when I don't tell you that because I just can't right now." John replied sadly, closing his eyes in exhaustion.

"I've always tried to get him to tell somebody about it but he never would… and when he joined OVW things got better because he wasn't home often and if he was, I tried to stay with them to make sure that Bob didn't try anything funny. Randy was always ashamed and feared people wouldn't want to have anything to do with him when they found out… Bob took care that Randy really believed that and stopped him from getting too much self-confidence." This whole confession had brought memories back John had had buried deep inside of him and he remembered various nights when he had found Randy beaten to a bloody pulp.

_ That explains why John and Randy are so close… I mean they were always best friends because they have so much in common… but now I see why they always seemed to know the other from the inside out. With this secret they share it's no wonder they're more like brothers. _ Batista realised and was still shocked at what John had just told him.

Sure, he had expected something like that when he had confronted John about his suspicions but he had never expected this horrible story.

When the Animal looked at John he could easily see that the Dr. of Thuganomics was hurting too because of what was happening to Randy, which was no wonder considering how close they were.

Batista rubbed his temple.

"So how come we haven't noticed. I mean Bob visited Randy often and the two always seemed to go along really well… I didn't even see a clue that something was so wrong between them."  
"Ever wondered why Randy is such a good actor? Why he has no problems playing whichever role Vince wants him to play? As I said Randy never wanted people to find out about his childhood. So even at this young age he developed such a good act, always telling people how much he admired his father. So people started to believe him. And Randy has mastered this mask to perfection. You know what the most frightening thing about this is? I fear there is really a small truth to his act. Randy admires his father… even after all this time and after everything he's done to him and for reasons best known to himself."

Batista nodded thoughtfully.

"So tell me one thing: How do you do it?" He questioned finally.

"Do what?" John asked confused. He had no idea what the Animal wanted from him.

"How can you step in front of Bob Orton and not beat the living daylight out of him, sometimes even pretend that you really like your best friend's father?" Batista questioned.

John laughed bitterly.

"As ironic as it sounds, I can do it for Randy… because as I said he doesn't want me to harm his father even though I was often close to it. Particularly when I found him again after a fight with his father… a fight Randy always lost because he wanted to lose. There are still some things in his past even I don't know about and I guess there lies the key as to why Randy let's Bob do whatever the asshole wants to do to him."

Dave just shook his head in disbelief. He had been friends with Randy ever since they had both entered the OVW and trained together.

_ How could I've never noticed no matter how good an actor Randy is. I should've seen it. _ Dave mused in his thoughts and promised himself to have an eye on Randy to help if necessary.

"So what are you going to do now?" John questioned calmly and the Animal immediately knew what John wanted to hear from him.

"Well… for now nothing except looking out for Randy, trying to help him where I can if he lets me."  
John smiled a little.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear… you really are a good friend and I can't say how thankful I am that you've figured it out for yourself what's happening. And I don't know how to thank you for everything you've done for Randy so far." The Dr. of Thuganomics said thankfully and Batista just smiled at that.

"Hey… I'm Randy's friend as much as I'm yours and I really hate it when my friends have problems and as far as I can see Randy has a really big problem."

John nodded.

"You could say that. And I hope that this time Bob Orton makes a mistake so everybody else can see what an asshole he is without us having to tell anybody."

Batista nodded.

"And in the meantime we need to support Randy as much as possible." John added.

"But don't ya think we should tell Alexandria about it. I mean she's his girlfriend and has a right to know." Batista interjected.

"I know she does but can you imagine what this will do to her when we tell her about it? Randy needs to tell her. It's his story and I already feel bad for telling you." John opposed.  
"Well you weren't really telling me. I already suspected something like that and you just confirmed it. And I'm not going to tell people, let alone Randy, that I know. And I'm sure as hell not going to tell Alexi. She's a sweet girl and I hate lying to her but I guess it's the best for now." Dave assured the other.

John nodded. He knew that he could trust Batista, but he wasn't naïve enough to think that Randy would never find out but he'd deal with that situation when it was time. What bothered him more right now were the feelings he had whenever anybody mentioned Alexi.

Batista could see that despite his assurance that he wouldn't tell people there was still something bothering the Dr. of Thuganomics.

"Are you okay John?" He questioned.

"No… I'm not…" Cena told him truthfully. There was no reason to lie to Dave after everything they had just talked about.

"Dave what I'm going to tell you now needs to stay between us…" John started and was glad when the Animal agreed.

"Do you remember that you asked me if I like Alexi?" John questioned.

Batista nodded. He had a bad feeling where this conversation was going.

"Well you were right. I like her… more than I want to."

Dave sighed deeply.

"Are you telling me that you have feelings for her that go beyond friendship?" He questioned, trying to make sure that he wasn't jumping to the wrong conclusions.

"Way beyond. And that's exactly the problem." John sighed, looking at the Animal with a haunted look in his eyes.

"Dave, tell me one thing. Why the hell is the first girl I have feelings for in ages, is my best friend's girlfriend?"

This time it was Dave who sighed.

"Sorry that is something I can't tell you… but what are you gonna do about it?" The Animal questioned, wondering how it was always possible for things to get even more complicated when you were just thinking you had finally figured everything out.

"If I only knew Dave… I mean right now I'm just trying to ignore the feelings I have for her, hoping they will just go away… but I fear it's not working. The last thing I wanna do is hurt Randy even more than he already is hurting at the moment."  
"So you're going to just pretend that everything's alright." Dave wanted to know.

"Yeah or do you have a better idea?" John replied, knowing that this was not going to be easy.

Batista thought about it for a moment then he shook his head.

"No, unfortunately not. If I had I would tell you… but I'm gonna think about it and when I have an idea I'll let you know." Dave assured.

"Thanks buddy. And if I can do something for you then let me know because I owe you a lot." John was glad that he'd finally told somebody about what else was going on with him.

"Hey… as I said before you're my friend and so there's no need for you to repay me for doing you a favour… but I'll keep your offer in mind." Dave said, smiling slightly.

The Dr. of Thuganomics smiled too.  
"So do you think we can go back to the others now or are there any other revelations?" Batista questioned.

"No, I don't think so. At least not for now." John grinned, quickly realising that it wasn't true because there was still this thing with Randy going to the hospital but that would stay a secret for now.

"So then let's go back before they scare Randy away with their curiosity." Dave suggested and John nodded with a sad smile and the two made their way back into the restaurant.

They approached the table of Dhani, Alexi, Adam, Chris, RVD and Randy.

John smiled a little when he saw that Shawn and Marissa were with them.


	10. Fear

Author's note: Hey everybody... I'm awfully sorry that I haven't updated for three months but the last months have been crap for me and I just couldn't get it done... I hope there are still some people out there who want to read it... and I'm sorry that the new chapter is shorter than the older one's... I promise I'll try to update quicker this time and make the chapter longer... but for now have fun with this chapter... oh and Martha if you still out there please give me a sign... I hope everything's going alright for you...

Katie

Disclaimer: Nothing except my OC's belong to me...

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**Chapter 10: Fears**

Alexi flew into the arms of her father. After all that had happened today she was glad to finally see her parents again. She had missed them when they had been in Greece to enjoy their well-earned honeymoon.

"I thought you were coming back tomorrow…" She stated a little confused.

"Hello to you too, sweetheart." Shawn commented with a grin.

Alexi smiled a little.

"Sorry… hey Dad… nice to see ya." She quickly greeted.

Marissa had watched the exchange between father and daughter in silence and with a bright smile on her face. She still couldn't believe how much her life had changed in such a short period of time. About two months ago she's believed she'd never see Shawn again, let alone be married to him and she'd never have thought it possible that her daughter would be able to put aside her hatred for Shawn and the WWE, start a relationship with a wrestler and become a diva herself.

But now all that seemed so far in the past and Marissa wasn't able to imagine a life without Shawn by her side anymore.

She felt totally happy but when she looked from Shawn and Alexi to all the others present she quickly realised that something was clearly out of place here. Chris was chewing thoughtfully on his lower lip, a sure sign that he was distressed over something.

_ Perhaps he and Martha had an argument. _ She mused. Alexandria had of course given her and Shawn updates about the growing relationship of the young doctor and her surrogate son while they had been in Greece. Shawn had even participated in that bet that had been going around backstage as to when Chris and Martha would show that they were together.

But then again she guessed that Alexi would have told her that as well so she decided to just wait and see.

Marissa now returned Alexi's hug, who'd finally moved to greet her after having taken her time with her father.

"Hello sweetie… how is it going?" She wanted to know and was a little confused when Alexandria whispered in her ear: "I'm going to tell you later…"

Shawn meanwhile had moved on to greet Randy and the others at the table.

Dhani looked at the Heartbreak Kid in awe. Sure, Alexi had of course told her that Shawn was her father but it was different to come face to face with HBK. The wrestler now looked at her in curiosity. "And who are you honey?" Shawn wanted to know interestedly.

Dhani quickly stood up from her chair, tried to find her voice again and was glad when Alexandria did the introductions.

"Dad, say hi to my best friend Dhani McMillan, the next American Figure-Skating princess." Alexandria introduced Dhani with a bright smile on her face because of course she knew what a big fan of HBK Dhani had always been.

Shawn smiled brightly, of course noticing that this girl standing in front of him was a fan.

"Hey Dhani, nice to meet you." Since HBK was in such a good mood he hugged Dhani and for a second Alexi feared Dhani might faint from shock that Shawn was actually hugging her.

Her eyes were wide and she awkwardly returned the hug.

When Shawn let go of her, Dhani managed to get out: "It's really nice to meet you Mr. Michaels."

Shawn grinned. "Since you're a good friend of my daughter, please call me Shawn… being called Mr. Michaels makes me feel really old…"

"Shawn, finally accept it… you are old." Chris piped up a little amused.

Everybody at the table laughed, even Shawn himself and that helped Dhani to relax.

Before any of them could say anything however, Batista and John returned to the table.

"Hey Shawn… I thought you were still on vacation?" was the first thing Dave asked, taking a seat beside Randy and giving the Legend Killer a short, thoughtful look, which unfortunately Randy noticed.  
"Everything okay Dave? Or do I have something in my face?" The Legend Killer questioned.

"Uh… of course everything is okay Randy…" Batista quickly told him, shooting a meaningful look at John.

Randy of course caught that as well and sprung up from his chair, interrupting John's and Shawn's conversation.

"You told him JC, didn't ya?" He questioned angrily.

"Told him what RKO?" John questioned innocently, hoping that Randy would just let it slip.

For a moment the Dr. of Thuganomics had forgotten that the young Orton knew how to read him almost as good as John could read Randy.

He was reminded of that however when the Legend Killer screamed: "And I thought you were my friend… but you're like all the others… I thought you'd be able to keep it a secret… but instead you go and tell him… why the hell did I think I could trust you. You're no better than my father… in fact you're way worse… with my father I at least knew where I stood from the very beginning. I knew I was a nuisance for him…and with you… well I thought you were my friend but I obviously was wrong… I hate you." And with that Randy stormed off again, not caring that he left behind a whole restaurant of confused wrestlers, who all stared after him in shock before they turned to Cena.

John had paled considerably and watched the young Orton run away with a sad expression on his face before he sunk down in the next chair.

"Don't you want to go after him?" Jericho questioned confused.

John just looked at him without really seeing him. The Dr. of Thuganomics just mumbled repeatedly: "He hates me…"

Alexi meanwhile shot an apologetic look at her parents and at Dhani, who all nodded before she ran after Randy, hoping she'd find him quickly.

Nobody stopped her because they were all looking at John who was still only mumbling this one sentence to himself.

"Are you okay John?" Dave put a hand on Cena's shoulder, trying to get a reaction from the other man.

Cena looked up.

"He hates me Dave… I tried everything to help him but I made things way worse… and now he hates me." It took all of John's willpower to keep his voice from trembling.

"Come on John, you know Randy… he often says things in the heat of the moment he doesn't really mean." Chris tried to assure the other.

"You don't understand Jericho… no matter what kind of fallouts me and Randy have had he never told me he hates me… he never really tells people that he hates them, no matter whatever they have done to him… he didn't even tell Triple H that he hates him… the only person Randy's ever personally said 'I hate you' to is Bob Orton jr.… and now he's said it to me… do you know what this means?" John quickly explained.

Y2J didn't really understand what Cena wanted to say with that and the only one who really seemed to know everything what was going on was Batista.

He quickly got up from his chair. "Don't worry John… I'm going to talk to Randy and explain everything to him…"

John shook his head.

"That's no use… he won't listen… at least not now…" He said sadly and then he looked around and was relieved to see that Alexandria obviously had gone after the young Orton. The Dr. of Thuganomics knew that it wouldn't be good for Randy to be alone now and Alexi was perhaps able to keep the young Orton from doing something really stupid.

Jericho looked at John and Batista and wondered what the hell the two were talking about.

Shawn was equally as confused and full of worry for his surrogate son and at the same time his daughter's boyfriend. He figured that he'd missed out on a lot of things around here while he'd been on his honeymoon.

"Okay John, now go and tell me what the hell has gotten into our Randy and where he's gotten all these bruises from." He demanded angrily.

Marissa laid a comforting hand on her husbands shoulder.

"What's gotten into Randy? Cowboy Bob Orton jr…" John told HBK and the others.

"Huh? Care to get a little more precise Cena?" Y2J questioned, finally losing his patience with John. This whole situation was getting on his nerves.

"No… I won't get precise. Randy's story is his to tell and that's final…" The tone of the man's voice made it obvious that there was no way to change his mind.

Shawn and Y2J looked at each other, not sure of what to do now.

"Umm… I better go and see Martha…" Jericho finally said into the silence that had spread over the whole restaurant and his words somehow broke the awful tension in the room.

After Chris the group all went their separate ways since they all had a lot to think about.

* * *

Dhani walked over to the elevator and thought about the last minutes and all the revelations she had no real idea how to help Alexandria right at the moment.

_ I think it's best I go back to my hotel room and call Alexi later to find out if she and Randy are okay... _ Dhani mused in her thoughts. She felt a little lost because she didn't really know anybody besides Alexi.

So she decided to really go back to her hotel room and perhaps read a little into the new book she'd bought yesterday while she had been waiting for her car to be repaired.

She was waiting for the elevator and was so lost in thoughts that she just walked forward when it finally arrived. Dhani only became aware of her surroundings again when she ran full force into somebody. The person she had run into was equally in a hurry and because he was much bigger than her, Dhani fell backwards and landed hard on the ground.

"Ouch..." She groaned, rubbing her sore elbow that had cushioned the fall.  
"Oh shit... I'm sorry..." The man said in apology and offered his hand to help Dhani up.

Just now the girl looked up and realised who she had run into. It was none other than Triple H himself.

She smiled shyly and took the offered hand and Hunter pulled her to her feet easily.

"It's okay... I didn't watch where I was going either..." Dhani assured the other.

"But you sure you're okay and not hurt?" Hunter questioned, still concerned. He knew that Alexi or better Randy would have his head if he had hurt the girl because of course he recognised her as Alexandria's friend he had met earlier.

And now that he was slowly repairing his friendship with Randy the last thing he needed was for the Legend Killer to have another reason to hate him again.

"Yeah... I'm okay..." Dhani said still a little shy since she was still not used to be around all those famous wrestlers.

"Can I perhaps buy you a coffee to make it up to you or do you have to meet somebody?" Triple H questioned, having no real idea why he had just said that but he wanted to get to know Dhani better ever since he'd first laid eyes on her and he knew that this was his chance because if Alexi was around he knew the girl would do everything to keep him away from Dhani. And Hunter really couldn't blame Alexandria after everything he'd caused her in the past months but he desperately wanted to make it up to Alexi too, he had just have to find a way how.

Dhani was speechless and thought she'd misheard him at first. Triple H was not just inviting her to have coffee with him.

Okay, this day had been strange enough until now, so she had to admit it wasn't nearly as impossible as she had thought to meet all her favourite wrestlers in person.

"Um... sure... if I'm not keeping you away from something important." She told the man, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"That's great... and no, you're not keeping me away from something important." Hunter was delighted at the girl's words and lead the young women back to the restaurant of the hotel, glad that all the other wrestlers were gone by now.

* * *

Even though Alexi was hot on Randy's heels, her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen when she exited the restaurant and none of the wrestlers who hung around in the lobby had seen him.

_ Damn Randy… what the hell is going on with you and why can't you just tell me? _ Alexandria wondered sadly, trying to figure out where Randy had run off to.

_ Perhaps I should just try his and John's room… _

With that she quickly turned towards the elevator, which was luckily empty so that she had all the time in the world to process what Randy had been saying before and to figure out what his words had actually meant. She wasn't very successful at that and she had the distinct feeling that she was missing something really important here while John and Dave seemed to know exactly what was going on.

What frightened her the most was the fact that Randy seemed to grow closer to Triple H again and she wasn't really sure if this was a good thing after everything the Game had put them through ever since she'd first met him.

With a sigh she exited the elevator and walked over to Randy's and John's room.

Alexi knocked and waited. It took a while before there was an answer, and Alexi was nearly tempted to continue her search, assuming that Randy wasn't here. But suddenly she heard Randy's voice: "Who is there?" He sounded so weak and sad, that Alexandria felt tears in her eyes.  
"Randy, it's me... please can I come in?" Shawn's daughter pleaded, hoping that her boyfriend wouldn't be too stubborn and let her in.

She could hear steps coming towards the door and a second later Randy opened.

The Legend Killer was even paler than he had been earlier but what surprised her immensely was, that Randy wasn't alone in his room. Instead Martha was sitting in one of the chairs in the room and looked a little uneasy.

"What are you doing here?" Alexi wanted to know, not caring that she sounded rude. She just didn't know what to make of that situation because something was really out of place here and Alexi didn't like that one bit, because when she had entered, Martha had quickly packed something away.

"Umm... I was just leaving... I have a date with Chris anyway." Dr. Cormela told the girl quickly, noticing that she didn't like her being in Randy's room.

"See you later Martha... and thanks for everything..." Randy said with a small smile at the young doctor.

"No problem Randy... and remember to call me later so we can finalise everything." Martha replied and stood up from her chair.

"Bye Alexi, bye Randy..." Martha nearly hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Alexandria looked at the young Orton, the hands crossed in front of her chest.

"So what the hell was all that about? Why can you talk to Martha after you've stormed off so early and why not to me?" She questioned, the hurt evident in her voice.

Randy just now realised what Alexi had to think.

"Lexi, it's not like it seems... Martha was just here by chance... she was looking for me because she wanted to check on me, to find out if I would be fit to wrestle or if my concussion is still there." The Legend Killer quickly told her, not wanting to tell her the whole truth.

Alexandria didn't really believe Randy that he was telling her everything but the Legend Killer just looked so tired that she thought it was better not to argue... at least not right at the moment.

Instead she sat cross-legged down on Randy's bed and looked at her boyfriend expectantly.

"So are you okay? Or what was all that about earlier?" She wanted to know.

She was surprised when Randy sat down beside her and leaned his head against Alexi's shoulder without another word.

The girl put his arm around Randy and kissed his hair.

"Randy, why won't you tell me what's wrong with you? You know that I won't tell people..." Alexi questioned again, even more worried about her boyfriend.

"Yeah... I know that of course Lexi..." Randy smiled and raised his head to kiss Alexi's forehead.

"But I just can't talk about it right now. I have to clear up a few things before I can tell you... please understand that." His voice sounded so weak that Alexandria only nodded, even though she didn't like it.

For a moment there was silence before Randy suddenly told her out of the blue: "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me, do you know that?"

Alexandria blushed and smiled at the Legend Killer.

"Thank you... that's the best compliment I have ever received." She smiled and kissed Randy.

The Legend Killer quickly deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around the girl.

He then leaned his forehead against hers.

"Will you stay the night?" Randy wanted to know. He really didn't want to be alone tonight... alone with his thoughts... alone with his regrets that he'd nearly revealed everything.

Alexandria didn't answer but instead looked at Randy and smiled softly.

She nodded slowly.

"If you want me to stay..."

Instead of an answer, Randy kissed her again, even more passionately than before, his hand creeping under her shirt.

"Of course I want you to stay..." he whispered into her ear, before he gently lowered her down onto the bed. He looked down at her with a smile.

"Do you trust me Lexi?" Randy wanted to know.  
"I do..." was all Alexandria replied with a smile on her face before Randy once again captured her lips in a kiss and started to unbutton Alexi's shirt.

This was the last any of them said for some time.

to be continued if you want it to be continued...


	11. Fights

Author's note: Hey everybody... I'm terribly sorry that it has been so long since I last updated, but I just wasn't able to continue. But finally I made it... even thought this chapter took a totally different turn than I really wanted it. I just hope that there are still some people out there who are interested in reading the new chapter (again: Martha, are you still out there anywhere? Please give me a sign)

Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, except Alexi, her mother and Dhani

**Dedication: ****This new chapter is dedicated to Denise hugs I'm really sorry that I haven't been the best of friend in the last weeks...**

* * *

  
**Chapter 11: Fights**

* * *

Triple H and Dhani took a seat at a small table in the corner of the restaurant where they would at least be a bit more private.

Hunter didn't really want too much people to see them together for now because he knew that Alexandria would have a problem with that and she'd have Chris coming after him.

Of course he wasn't afraid of Y2J, but he wanted to regain Randy's trust and earn Alexi's some day, so he didn't want to give them a new point for an argument for now.

The Game pushed away these thoughts and smiled at the young woman, who sat opposite of him.

"So you're a friend of Alexi and Chris?" He questioned.

"Yeah... well more of Alexandria... I've known her since we're three or four years old..." Dhani explained, still trying to come to terms with the fact that she was really sitting in a restaurant with her absolute favourite wrestler.

"And how come you haven't seen her for so long?" Triple H wondered.

"I've been out of the country to train for the next World Championship in Figure Skating..." Dhani explained a little hesitantly.

"Oh okay..." Hunter nodded.

"I've never been too interested in this sport but if you're going to skate I'm surely going to watch..." He said with a huge grin on his face, which made Dhani go red.

"Um... thanks..." Was all she managed to say.

The young woman looked at the Cerebral Assassin for a moment and studied the other man's face, trying to decide if you should ask the question that had been on her mind for a while now.

The smile on Hunter's face made her trust him, so she questioned softly: "Um... you don't have to answer if you don't want to, I can understand it... I just wanted to ask..."

She didn't exactly know how to put it into words. Hunter sighed. He had a pretty good idea what Dhani wanted to ask, so he said: "You want to know why Alexandria, Shawn, Chris and a lot of the other wrestlers hate me so much, am I right?"

"Yeah... exactly... and as I said, you don't have to answer, if you don't want to." Dhani quickly explained.

Hunter sighed again.

"It's not that big a secret. I've done some very stupid things in the past months, destroying my friendship with Randy... and I tried to have my revenge on him by using Alexi... and well you know that Chris is very protective of Alexandria, so are Shawn, John, Randy and a lot of other wrestlers..." He explained and Dhani watched him carefully, trying to figure out if he was lying or not. She didn't see any sign for a lie and she knew that Hunter had no reason to lie to her at all.

"But why did you do it in the first place? I mean if Randy and you have been such good friends..." Dhani questioned.

"I don't really know anymore. I mean... well... actually it was my ego. I was jealous because the fans were cheering louder for him than for me... and then things just got complicated. But the last few days I've come to realise how much I actually miss Randy's and Dave's friendship. And that Randy obviously has problems doesn't help the matter any..."

Dhani nodded. Somehow she understood why Hunter had done it, even though she didn't want to justify it.

The woman could see, that it saddened Hunter to talk about it, so she decided to switch topic.

"So... any interesting storylines coming for you?" She questioned, smiling at the older man.

Hunter shrugged.

"I don't really know. I haven't talked to Vince about it... I have a meeting with him later and he'll probably tell me then." The Game explained and Dhani nodded in understanding.

The two had a nice conversation and Hunter made Dhani promise that they'd see each other again soon. Dhani of course had agreed immediately, but she and Hunter had decided not to tell other about it as long as things were so complicated.

And when Dhani returned to her hotel room later that night, after her coffee with Triple H, she still couldn't believe what had happened.

Sure, she had been prepared for a lot when Alexandria had told her who her father was, but never that Hunter would invite her to have dinner with him.

She hadn't seen Alexi all day ever since she had followed Randy but she guessed it was better that way and that she and Alexandria could talk about everything the next day because somehow she had the feeling that Alexi wouldn't be available to talk to for tonight.

* * *

While Alexi and Randy were up in their room and Dhani and Hunter were having their coffee, Batista and John were walking through the hotel.

The Animal looked at John. The WWE-Champion was still pale but at least he seemed to have gotten a grip on his emotions.

Dave still wasn't sure why exactly Cena had been so shaken by Randy's words, but he knew that the young Orton and John went way back and John must have had his reasons.

Currently the two were on their way to their hotel rooms to go to bed early since the next day would be very hard. John had a photo shoot with Randy and Alexi and then they would film trailers for the show, which would be the beginnings of some feuds for the next Wrestlemania and then there was the live show in the evening where Alexi would have her first in-ring appearance in a match against Victoria. And then he had to drive Randy to the hospital for those tests Martha had told him she needed to determine what was wrong with him. At first Martha had planned to get Randy out of all his appearances that day but Vince hadn't allowed that, since Martha hadn't been able to give him good reasons.

So Randy had to appear, what John didn't particularly like and he guessed Martha did neither.

And after everything that had happened this day they would need all the rest they could get.

"Um Dave..." John suddenly started and looked at the Animal almost shyly.

"Yeah, what's on your mind John?" Batista questioned, easily seeing that Cena had something important on his mind.  
"Can I perhaps take the second bed in your room? After everything that has happened today I guess it's better if I don't return to my room tonight, because I need to talk to Randy first and not when we're both still emotional and worked up over the situation."

"Of course you can crash at my room... but you know that you have to face Randy sometime?" Batista agreed. He was currently occupying his room alone since Shawn, his usual roommate had been on honeymoon, so there was no problem for John to take the second bed since Marissa and Shawn used to share a room as long as Marissa was with them on the tour.

"Yeah I know... and believe me I will... but I guess tonight is not the right time to do so. Randy needs time to think about everything and so do I..." Cena explained.

Batista nodded. John knew Randy much better than any of the other people on the roster and when he said that the young Orton needed the space, then he really needed it.

"I just wanted to make sure, that you're really going to talk to him. Because in his current situation, the last thing Randy needs is a fight with his best friend."

John nodded. "I'm glad to know that you think about Randy's well being. He needs all the friends he has at the moment."  
Batista nodded again.

"I guessed as much..." Then he sighed again.

"Do you have an idea what the hell Hunter is doing right now? I mean... his behaviour is even more confusing than usual." The Animal told the Dr. of Thuganomics thoughtful.

John laughed for a second.

"I thought it was odd too... but after what Randy told me earlier, I'm somehow convinced that he's actually serious and cares about RKO again." He explained.

Dave agreed. "I thought so too. He seemed really concerned when he helped Randy after his last encounter with his father."  
This time it was John, who nodded and he sighed again.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see how things play out... but if I have reason to believe that Hunter's only doing it to lull Randy in so that he can have his revenge, then I swear to god, Triple H will wish that he was never been born."  
"If that's the case, then I'm with you..." Batista said, a dry laugh on his lips.

John smiled a little.

"Okay... but I get the first turn." He demanded.

"Sure thing John... but for now, let's just wait and see what happens... perhaps Hunter really wants to change."

John shrugged. "As you said, let's wait and see."

The two had arrived at Dave's room and the Animal opened the door.

"The bed over at the window is normally Shawn's." Batista motioned and grabbed some things.

"I'm gonna take a shower before I go to bed. If you want to, you can shower too." With that Batista vanished into the bathroom.

"Thanks Dave." John called after him and laid down on the bed to relax a little but when Dave returned from the bathroom about half an hour later, Cena was fast asleep on the bed and Batista just let him.

He made himself comfortable on the bed and was asleep too a few minutes later.

* * *

Alexandria awoke the next morning and it took her a moment to realise, where she was.

She raised her head a little and saw that Randy was still asleep, one arm tugged under his head, the other around Alexi's waist, holding her securely in place.

HBK's daughter smiled happily and let her head sink back onto Randy's naked chest.

She still couldn't really believe what had happened last night but there was no way she regretted anything.

Suddenly she remembered John and couldn't help but blush. She peeked over Randy at the WWE-Champions bed and to her relief found it empty.

For a moment she wondered if John had already left or if he hadn't been here at all.

Alexandria sighed and knew that whatever the case was, she couldn't change it now, even though she was pretty sure that John hadn't been here.

Her thoughts were interrupted, when Randy suddenly started to stir.

"Mhh? Lexi?" He questioned, still half asleep, his eyes only half-open.

"Good morning handsome." Alexi greeted with a bright smile on her face.

"Did you sleep well?" She questioned after she had given him a 'good-morning' kiss.

The Legend Killer was completely awake by now.

"Of course I slept well... how couldn't I." He said, with a dreamy smile on his face, obviously relieving what they had shared the night before.

Alexi could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and was sure, that she was blushing a little.

"Are you hungry?" She questioned, knowing that Randy needed to eat.

"Nah... not really... but if you are, we can get ready and can get something to eat. I mean, we need to be ready for work..." The young Orton took a quick glance at the alarm clock and added: "... in two hours anyway."

Alexandria nodded.

"I should go back to my room and take a quick shower and then I should check up on Dhani, so she won't feel neglected." She said and started to free herself from Randy's arms and the blanket that was tangled around them.

The young Orton, however, quickly tightened his embrace and pulled her back towards him.

"You can shower here..." He started, but Alexandria quickly interrupted him: "Yeah of course I could... but we both know that I won't shower alone... and then we won't get ready on time..."  
Randy tried his best puppy-dog-eyes on her, but Alexi didn't give in and instead added: "And besides that, John can come back any minute..."  
As soon as HBK's daughter mentioned John, Randy's face hardened.

"Sorry..." Alexi quickly apologised, remembering what had happened the day before between John and Randy. She hoped that the two would work through it.

The Legend Killer sighed.

"It's okay... I need to talk to him at some point..." He said, knowing that he had been too hard on his best friend the day before.

Alexi was glad, that Randy seemed to be ready to at least talk to John.

"Yeah I guess you need to do that... see, another point why I should take the shower at my room." She said, a small smile on her face.

Randy couldn't help but smile a little too.

"I guess you're right... but a shower with you sounds just so great." He said, trying the puppy-dog-eyes again.

Alexi blushed and laughed.  
"Just because we can't do it today, doesn't mean, that we can't do it some other time." She explained, finally freeing herself from Randy's arms, starting to dress herself.

"Is that a promise?" Randy questioned, a smile on her lips.

Alexi turned her head and looked at her boyfriend.  
"If you want it to be." She replied, smiling sweetly.

Randy laughed and looked at Alexi, who was by now fully dressed.

The Heartbreak Kid's daughter walked back to the bed and kissed Randy.

"See you in about an hour down in the lobby." She said, after she broke the kiss.

"Yeah... see you then princess." Randy nodded and looked after his girlfriend with regret when she left the room.

With a sigh he got out of the bed himself, picked out some new clothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

When he left the bathroom, dressed in a pair of jeans and towel drying his hair, he found John sitting on his bed.

The Dr. of Thuganomics looked at the Legend Killer, trying not to show his emotions.

"Morning RKO. I let myself in when I realised that you were alone... and decided to wait until you came out of the bathroom." He greeted, when Randy didn't say anything.

"Morning JC." Randy replied and stopped to dry his hair.

John was relieved that Randy at least wasn't yelling at him.

He took the opportunity and said: "I'm so sorry Randy. I never meant to tell Dave about your past... he found out most of it on his own. But when he asked me to confirm it, I did."

Randy sat down on his own bed with a sigh.

"I'm sorry too, John. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I always knew that people would find out eventually. And please know that I don't hate you..." He said, smiling slightly.

John did smile too.

"I still am sorry for telling Dave. But I have to admit that I was almost relieved to confirm Dave's suspicions. That didn't make me feel like I was breaking the promise." Cena explained, knowing that the only way to regain Randy's trust was to be completely honest.

The Legend Killer raised his eyebrow and didn't really know what to think of John's words.

"What do you mean you were relieved? Is it that cool to tell people about my past?" He questioned, not able to keep the anger from his words.

John quickly shook his head.

"Of course not. That's not the way I meant it... but I was relieved that I was finally not the only one to know what Bob is doing to you." John started and saw, that Randy was about to interrupt him again, so he quickly continued: "Damn RKO, for years I've been the only one to know about you. I've been the one to patch you up when Bob has been beating you to a bloody pulp again... I'm the one, who found you after your suicide attempt... Randy... you're my best friend, my brother and it's killing me to see you like that... so I was glad to finally be able to tell somebody... and Dave's your friend too... he cares about you too... and he wants to help."

The current WWE-Champion looked at Randy, who had paled a little.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner, JC? I never meant to hurt you that much. I just had nobody else to turn to." The Legend Killer said, his voice full of regret.

John sighed. He hadn't wanted to make Randy feel guilty. He just wanted for him to understand why he had told Batista about everything.

"RKO, it's okay... as I said, we're best friends and best friends care for each other... I just want ya to know why I've told Dave everything. And I don't want you to be mad at me anymore..." He hurried to say.

Randy sighed. "I was never mad... I was just shocked." He admitted.  
"So everything okay between us again?" John questioned, looking at the Legend Killer expectantly.

Randy nodded. "Yeah, of course... but what's Dave gonna do now? I mean... I don't want more people to find out... especially not Lexi."

_ Damn... and here I was thinking that I could finally get him to open up. _John cursed in his thoughts before he said: "He's not telling anybody and he's not doing anything if you don't want him to."

Randy nodded relieved and smiled a little.

"I'm glad to hear that. I don't want people to pity me..." He told his best friend.

John sighed exasperatedly. He had had this conversation with Randy more than once, but he also knew that right at the moment there was no way to change Randy's mind.

So he decided to change the topic.

"So, where's Alexi? Did you two have fun last night?" He asked, grinning, enjoying the light blush that crept onto Randy's face.

He ducked to avoid the pillow, Randy had thrown at him.  
"It's none of your business." The Legend Killer told him sternly.

Johny laughed. "Sorry, just kidding... but my first question still stands. Where's Alexi?"

"She's taking a shower and then she wants to find out if Dhani is okay." Randy answered, finally putting on his shirt.

"We'll meet up for breakfast down in the lobby. You can join us if you want." He explained.  
"Sounds good... then we can go and film that goddamn trailer before I'm going to drive you to the hospital." John told his best friend seriously.

A shadow passed over Randy's face. He had been able to forget about his trip to the hospital until now.  
"Thanks again that you're coming with me." The Legend Killer told his friend seriously.

"Hey, as I told you before, no big deal..." John told him, this time abstaining from telling Randy that he had to tell at least Alexi about his trip to the hospital, knowing that Randy would just get angry again.

"Then I guess you should get ready so that we can be down in the lobby on time." The Legend Killer explained.

John nodded and quickly vanished into the bathroom.

When he was ready it was about time to meet with Alexi, so the two walked downstairs, both glad that they'd been able to sort their differences out.

As soon as they entered the lobby, the two immediately knew that this day wouldn't continue to be as peaceful as it had started.

Even before they entered the lobby, they could hear Alexi's voice, yelling at someone.

John and Randy looked at each other in shock, when they realised it was Chris Jericho, she was yelling at.

None of them had ever seen her yelling at her surrogate big brother.

"What the hell is going on between you two?" John questioned and came to stand beside the two.

Jericho turned and when he recognised Randy, he got even angrier.

"You... this is all your fault..." He screamed and before any of them could react, he threw himself at Randy, punching him square in the face, catching the Legend Killer off gard, sending him to the ground.

Randy just let out a pained cry when his head connected with the back of one of the lounge chairs standing in the room.

Then he fell to the ground, not moving.

Chris just looked at him, realising what he had done.

Alexandria screamed at him: "You bastard... how could you..."

Then she knelt down beside Randy. "Oh my god... please somebody call an ambulance." She yelled when she saw the pool of blood quickly growing under Randy's head.

Her cry, shook everybody out of their shock and John quickly called an ambulance, wondering what had gotten into Chris all of sudden.

He knew that he had to wait for a while to find out, while he tried to help Alexi to take care of Randy.

Jericho stood beside them, not really knowing what to do and John guessed it was better that way, at least for now.

Dave, who had come down seconds after them, tried to keep the curious onlookers away.

All were relieved when finally the ambulance arrived and a medical team took care of Randy.

When the ambulance drove away with Randy and Alexi, John finally turned to Chris.

"What the hell happened? And what the hell has gotten into you?" He questioned, trying to keep his calm. He could be angry at Y2J, when he knew the whole truth.

"What happened? What has gotten into me?" Jericho repeated and then he answered the question so that John could only stare at him in shock.

"Randy's cheating on Alexi... with Martha."

* * *

to be continued if you want me to 


	12. Finding out

Author's note: Wow... I know it took me awfully long to get a new chapter up and it may not be my best... but I needed to get over with it to get the story going... so maybe there are still some people out there interested in the story... and I hope you will like it at least a little bit...

Have fun reading,

Katie

**Zanderlover:** Wow, it's so good to hear from you hugs I was really really worried about you... and I'm really sorry to hear that life hasn't been treating you well hugs and I'm sorry to hear about your parents car accident... I hope they are okay hugs again  
And I hope we can talk to each other more often again, because I really missed talking to you hugs

Disclaimer: Nothing except Alexi, her mother, Martha and Dhani belong to me sigh

* * *

**Chapter 12: Finding out**

* * *

When Dhani awoke the next morning, she wondered if she'd see more of Alexandria today.

But honestly, she didn't really mind it, since her date, well if she considered it to be a date, with Hunter had been really nice and she looked forward to seeing him again today.

The girl quickly dressed and was just about to leave her hotel room when there was a knock on the door.

"Yeah, who is there?" Dhani questioned surprised.

"Dhani, it's me, Lex. Can I come in?" Alexandria's voice came from outside the door.

Dhani smiled and quickly went to open the door.

The two young women embraced for a second, before Alexandria quickly spoke up.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I originally wanted to show you around and introduce you to the other wrestlers, but well... you have seen Randy... I had to look after him." She apologised.

Dhani nodded in understanding.

"It's okay Lex, I understand that. And I had a good day without you babysitting me." The girl smiled.

Alexandria was relieved that her friend wasn't mad.

"But we're going to spend the day together, okay?"

Again Dhani nodded.

"Sure thing... so how's Randy by the way? And what the hell was that yesterday?" She wanted to know, still a little confused and stunned with everything that had happened yesterday.

"I guess he's better now. Well, he was at least when I left him... we're going to meet for breakfast. Do you wanna come with us?" Alexi invited.

"Sure... I was just about to go down anyway." Dhani quickly nodded.

"Great..."

So the two friends left Dhani's hotel room and went down into the lobby.

They had just exited the elevator, when suddenly Chris Jericho appeared beside them.

"Ah Alexi... good to see you. I need to talk to you... it's urgent..." Y2J pleaded, and added after a short break: "...alone..."

Dhani understood exactly, so she told Alexandria: "I'm going to get us a table and order us some coffee..."

The young woman could see that Alexandria and Chris needed some privacy and without waiting for an answer, she walked into the restaurant, still with a smile on her face.

It grew even brighter when she saw, that Hunter was already there. He was sitting alone at a table.

As soon as he spotted Dhani, he smiled at her too and stood up from the table and walked over to her.

"Good morning Dhani. It's a pleasure to see you again so soon." He told her, taking her hand, kissing it.

Dhani was a little surprised at that gesture and couldn't help the blush rising in her cheeks.

"Good morning Hunter..." She quickly said.

"So, do you want to have breakfast with me?" Triple H wanted to know.

Dhani smiled.

"I'd love to, but I'm not sure if this is the best idea... I mean, Chris and Alexi should be here any minute now... and I guess Dave Batista, Randy and John will join us too..." She told him, the regret evident in her voice.

Hunter sighed.

"Okay, I see the problem... they're not exactly my best friends..."

"But you could come and sit with me until they arrive..."

Dhani nodded and smiled and the two were sitting down at the table, Hunter had occupied earlier.

The two talked about a lot of things, until Hunter suddenly asked:  
"Would you maybe like to go and have dinner with me tonight? If Alexandria is okay with it, of course."

Before the perplexed Dhani could say yes to Hunter's invitation, they suddenly heard loud screaming coming from the lobby.

"Wasn't that Chris and Alexi?" Dhani questioned in shock.

"I guess so... come on, let's go and see what's happening."  
And without thinking Hunter grabbed Dhani's hand and the two sprinted into the lobby, just in time to see Alexi running after two medics who carried a stretcher with Randy on it.

"What the hell happened?" He questioned Rob van Damme, who stood beside him, having watched the scene too.

RVD looked at him for a second, before turning his attention back to Chris Jericho and John Cena, who were screaming at each other.

* * *

"I'm going to get us a table and order us some coffee..."

And before HBK's daughter could do or say something, she was gone.

Alexi turned to Chris, who looked at her solemnly.

"So what's up? What couldn't you say in front of Dhani? I mean, except you she's my best friend." HBK's daughter questioned, not really liking Jericho's behaviour.

"Have you noticed something odd about Randy in the last days?" Chris questioned and Alexi shook her head.

"Well, except the headaches and the secret he makes about them, nothing. Why?"

Jericho sighed.

"Well.. I think... I guess it might be the case that..." Y2J began.

"Come on Chris, just spit it out." Alexi said impatiently.

Chris took one deep breath and then told her: "I think Randy and Alexi are having an affair.

"What?" Alexandria looked at her surrogate brother speechlessly.

"You're kidding, right? Why are you saying that?" She wanted to know.

"I overheard a phone conversation between them... they're meeting secretly and when I entered the room, Martha quickly hung up."  
A feeling of dread washed over Alexandria and she thought about when she had surprised Randy and Martha in Randy's hotel room a few days ago.

Until now she had thought that the young doctor was just checking on Randy because of his headaches.

She quickly shook her head.

"No way. I don't believe you..." She told him, louder than intended.

"But it's true..." Chris exclaimed angrily and just now Alexi could see how hurt Jericho looked by the betrayal of the woman he loved and one of his best friends.

Before Alexi could defend Martha and Randy however, the elevator opened again and John and Randy stepped out.

The two looked shocked to see Chris and Alexi angry with each other and John quickly asked:

"What the hell is going on between you two?"

Chris, who had had his back turned towards the elevator and when he spotted Randy, he screamed: "You... this is all your fault..."

And then everything happened to so quickly that Alexi could only watch in horror.

Chris ran forward and punched Randy.

Since the Legend Killer wasn't prepared for that attack and stumbled backwards, hitting his head on one of the chairs, falling to the ground unconscious.

Alexandria looked in horror when she saw the blood forming underneath the young Orton's head.

"You bastard... how could you..." she screamed at Chris and then kneeled down beside Randy, trying to wake him and yelling for someone to get an ambulance.

She had no idea who had finally called it, but was glad when two medics took care of the still unconscious young man.

She followed the stretcher because there was no way she'd leave Randy alone and she didn't care what happened behind her.  
All she did hear was Chris telling John of his accusations, and then she was out of hearing range and into the ambulance, which brought Randy to the hospital.

Alexi prayed silently that it wasn't as bad as it looked...

* * *

"Randy's cheating on Alexi... with Martha..."

The words nearly echoed through the lobby, at least in John's mind.

"You're kidding right?" He questioned, not believing what he was hearing.

To him this sounded totally ridiculous.

Randy loved Alexandria with all his heart, the Legend Killer had told him that more than once.

And as far as things looked, Dr. Cormela was head over heels for Chris Jericho, so why should she have reason to cheat on him.

His thoughts were interrupted, when Batista spoke: "Come on Chris, I have to agree with John here. Randy would never do that to you or Alexi... and of course Martha would never do that to you either... she loves you way too much..."

The Animal's calm words seemed to help Jericho get a grip of his emotions and he ran a hand through his hair.

Cena calmed somewhat himself and tried to get to the bottom of this whole story.

He still didn't believe one second that Martha and Randy were cheating on Chris and Alexi, but Jericho wouldn't say anything like that just for the fun of it.

There had to be some evidence, or what Chris believed to be evidence.

So he questioned: "Chris, if you blurt out those accusations, you need to have reason to believe in them. So what the hell made you say that?"

Y2J looked at him, a stern and angry look in his eyes.

"Of course I have reason to believe that." He spat, his hands clenched into fists.

"And what reason?" Batista questioned, his voice low, looking at all the Wrestlers present who were trying to find out what the hell was going on.

Rob van Damme and Adam Copeland were among them, ready to step in and separate John and Chris if necessary.

But right now it didn't look like it. Both men were surprisingly calm, even though the worry for Randy was etched into Cena's face.

RVD and Edge were worried too about the Legend Killer since the head wound hadn't really looked good but for now they decided to just watch and listen.

Chris snorted again.

"I overheard a phone call between Randy and Martha... and when Martha realised I was there, she quickly hung up. Damn how can they do that to me... I love Martha..." He justified his earlier reactions.

John just laughed bitterly.

"Yeah of course she hung up... damn Chris, she's Randy's doctor and you're not supposed to know about all of Randy's medical secrets..." Cena exclaimed, knowing that there were a lot of them, but that was another story.

This time it was Y2J's turn to laugh sarcastically.

"Didn't sound like a doctor-patient talk to me..."

Batista sighed. This was getting them nowhere and besides he wanted to go to the hospital and find out how Randy was and to support Alexandria, who was all alone at the moment.

So he decided to step in once again.

"What exactly was said, Chris?" He questioned, hoping to shed some light.

Chris didn't even have to think about it. He had memorised every word, turning it over and over in his head, trying to figure out what to think of it.

"I couldn't hear what Randy said, but Martha told him not to worry that she wouldn't tell anybody. Then Randy said something again and Martha smiled, answering that nobody was suspecting a thing and that she'd make all the right excuses for tomorrow, so nobody would find out and that Randy would know where they'd see each other."

Jericho's voice became angrier with every word that was spoken, until he was screaming

John's eyes had gotten wide and he stared at Jericho for a moment, now realising why Chris was so angry.

This really sounded like two secret lovers, but suddenly John made the connection. He suddenly knew what call Jericho meant, since he had been there with Randy.

"And did you talk to Martha what this was all about?" He questioned, his hands clenched into fists because otherwise he'd punch Jericho.

Chris just laughed.

"No... of course not. She would have denied everything anyway."

"So you just went to Alexi to tell her about your suspicions?" John couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Normally Jericho was a very reasonable person and not one to act on his feelings, but love made people do funny things.

"Yeah of course. We were both in the same boat and Alexi is important to me..." Chris started, trying once again to justify his actions.  
"And when she didn't believe you, you just got so angry and attacked Randy for hurting you and for hurting your surrogate little sister." Cena concluded, his voice dangerously low.

Chris actually looked guilty for a split second before the anger returned.  
"I never meant to hurt Randy like that... that was just by accident, I just wanted him to admit it, so that we could clear that up." He admitted, just now really realising what he had done.

"Damn Chris... you've known Randy for years now. He would never do that to you, to Alexi or to anybody else for that matter... if... and I emphasise on the if, he had feelings for Martha he would have sat you, Alexandria and Martha down and told you about them. Martha is his doctor and she had to care about him, since he might be seriously ill and Martha arranged for him to go to the hospital for some tests. He didn't want to worry you all, so he tried to keep it as quiet as possible..." John explained, a lot calmer now, but Chris's next words finally made him explode: "Yeah... I thought so too, but all the lies he's told in the past few days and his behaviour made me rethink that... perhaps all his secrecy and trying to hide his affair gave him those headaches and not some illness."

And before RVD, Adam, Batista or Hunter and Dhani, who had arrived shortly after the ambulance had left, could react, John shot forward and grabbed Chris by the collar.

His face was only inches away from Y2J when he spat: "Don't you dare to say anything like that again about Randy. Randy went through hell and back and right now this hell is catching up with him again and the last thing he'd add to that hell was hurting one of his best friends and the girl he loved..."

In the back of his mind, John knew he was overreacting and Chris had simply made a mistake, but finally the past few days were taking its toll on the Dr. of Thuganomics and he didn't even realise what he was revealing with this little speech. All he wanted to do was make Jericho see the error of his ways.

Chris chocked and tried to free himself from the current WWE Champions grip.  
RVD and Adam looked at each other in shock, so did Hunter and Dhani.

They had all suspected something was very wrong with the young Orton, but no one was prepared for what they were hearing.

"You have no right to judge Randy. Or have you ever tried to kill yourself just to end your misery? Have you ever been close to losing everything you hold dear? Only then you have the right to judge Randy's actions."

The gasps that followed John's little speech, made the young man realise what exactly he had just done.

He turned his eyes away from Jericho, who was also looking wide eyed and was greeted with the four shocked faces of Rob, Adam, Hunter and Dhani.

Cena was relieved a little when he realised that these were the only people present.

He let go of Chris's shirt and let his hands drop to his sides, staring at the floor, hating himself for his outburst, for revealing so much of Randy's past.

Adam was the first one to find his voice again.

"Randy tried to kill himself?" He questioned, the disbelief clearly evident in his voice.

John looked at Batista, who had a calm expression on his face and just shrugged his shoulders.

"You decide..." was all he said to John.

Chris, who by now, deeply regretted that he hadn't talked to Martha first before attacking Randy, could have kicked himself for ever thinking such a thing about the woman he loved and a man who he'd called a friend for years now.

Y2J had a lot to make up for and he would do that but first he needed to find out the whole story.

He questioned angrily: "So, John, just spit it out and don't leave us hanging with half of the story. We have a right to know. We've all been worried about Randy for a while now, as you should know."  
John sighed in defeat.

"Yeah... it is true... if you ever need advice at how to best kill yourself then go to Randy and ask for advice. He's tried almost everything in the book, from slitting his wrists to taking sleeping pills... the only thing he never tried is shooting himself and that only because he couldn't get his hands on a gun at that time..." His voice was bitter and he was just exhausted with everything happening and with keeping this secret to himself for all those years.

He just didn't have the strength to keep it secret anymore, not after all that had happened in the last few days and hours.

If possible, all present looked even more shocked and Hunter, to everybody's surprise, looked the most shaken and grabbed Dhani's hand for support, squeezing so hard that the young woman yelped in pain.

Triple H quickly eased his grip and shot her an apologetic look, before he asked: "John, please tell us, what has made Randy do all those things?"

John looked at the Game, sighing again.  
"I can't Hunter, I just can't. I've told way too much already but I just couldn't take that anymore..." He explained with some sort of déjà vu. He had had a similar conversation with Batista the day before.

Triple H just nodded, seeing that John wasn't going to tell them, no matter what.

So he decided to change the subject a little, making a vow to find out who had done all that to Randy, but right now other things were more important.

"So, who wants to go to the hospital to see how Randy is doing?" He questioned and of course all were with Hunter, suddenly none of them questioning the Cerebral Assassin's right to be there.

But they all silently vowed to have an eye on him in case he tried something.

Especially John, who was a little shocked at how close Dhani and Hunter seemed to have grown already.

But he could get to the bottom of this later, right now he desperately needed to see Randy.

The Dr. of Thuganomics started to follow Hunter, Dhani, RVD, Edge and Batista when he suddenly realised that Chris was still standing there, making no move.

"Chris? Aren't you coming?" He questioned.

Y2J shook his head.

"Not right now..." He started, but John quickly interrupted him: "I hope this is not because of our argument... I now know what you were thinking... and I'm not mad anymore and I'm sure Randy and Alexi won't be either when you explain everything to them."

Chris nodded.  
"Yeah... I know that... and I need to apologise to Randy and Alexi, but first of all I need to talk to Martha... I have to make things right with her too after the way I left her yesterday."

John smiled. He could understand that and extended his hand.  
"I can understand that. But promise you'll come later?" He questioned.

Jericho nodded and shook the WWE Champions hand, signalling that things between them would be okay soon.

And then they parted, Chris went to find Martha and John drove to the hospital.

* * *

to be continued... 


	13. Time to set your priorities

A/N: Okay, it has been years since I updated this… but I hope some of you may still be interested in it *crosses fingers* If yes, then reviews are always appreciated *smiles* And thanks to all who have reviewed the story so far… you're awesome *smile* Oh and remember, this story started a long time ago o.O So no Legacy in this story (no Ted and no Cody etc…) I hope you don't mind… I haven't been able to watch Wrestling for a while, which is why this story hasn't been updated earlier *gomen* But now I've come around to watching more wrestling so I'm going to continue this (but I'll probably start another WWE story with a little more actual storylines etc. soon so maybe you might be interested in that too ^^ if yes, let me know *smiles*) But now have fun reading the new chapter *smiles*

Oh and this chapter has the high rating because of some violence and swear words and mentions of abuse… just so that you're warned….

.

Disclaimer: Nothing except Alexi, her mother, Martha and Dhani belong to me *sigh* and nothing in this story is true and I don't want to insult anyone with this… that's why it's called fiction…

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* * *

**Chapter 13: Time to set your priorities

* * *

**

.

Alexandria couldn't believe everything that had just happened… it was just surreal… Chris accusing Randy of cheating on her… then Chris injuring Randy so he had to go to the hospital.

She sighed and rubbed her hands over her face, angrily wiping away the tears that had been falling constantly ever since a nurse had gently, but without hesitation steered her into an empty waiting area.

The young woman had assured Alexi that she'd come and get her as soon as the doctors had finished patching up Randy.

And Alexandria knew there was nothing she could do about it now…

The EMT's had assured her, however, that it was just a simple head wound, which would be okay after Randy had had stitches… but honestly that wasn't what Alexi was so worried about.

She feared that something was seriously wrong with Randy because he hadn't regained consciousness during the ride to the hospital.

And she had seen it in the doctor's faces that they were worried about this, asking who Randy's regular doctor was so they could check Randy's medical records.

Alexandria had quickly supplied them with Martha's phone number…

Martha… when she thought of her, parts of the conversation with Y2J came back to her and another tear ran down her cheek.

Was it really true?

Was Randy cheating on her and Chris with Martha?

_//No… that can't be…//_ She tried to convince herself firmly, believing that her strong feelings for Randy were returned by the Legend Killer full force and without doubt.

Chris had probably misunderstood something… they were all a little wound up after everything happening lately and with the tour stress and Randy's weird behavior.

_//Yes, he's probably just let his imagination run a little wild…//_ She mused and that eased her mind a bit.

Nonetheless, the young diva swore to herself that she'd talk to Randy about it, asking him to be honest with her when he was a little better.

Alexi buried her head in her hands and closed her eyes for a minute, trying to sort out her thoughts, wondering what she was missing here, because even though she didn't believe that Randy and Martha were having an affair, the Legend Killer still had a secret…

And it was obviously one that was making him sick.

_//I wish John was here… he's Randy's best friend… he'll know what's going on with him if I don't.//_

This thought gave her some reassurance because she knew that John would be here soon and then she could ask him what was wrong with her boyfriend, grilling him for answers if she had to and if her puppy dog eyes failed her… even though they never had with John and Randy so far.

"Ms. Michaels?" A female voice broke through her thoughts and she looked up to see the nurse that had let her here, poking her head into the room.

"Yeah? How is Randy? Can I see him?" Alexi asked, immediately jumping to her feet, half expecting her to refuse her request since, yes, she was Randy's girlfriend, but not immediate family and it was against hospital policy to tell her.

She was pleasantly surprised when the nurse only gave her a mild smile and nodded.

"Yes, you can see him. He's in room 147, just down the hall the third door to the left. He has asked to see you first thing when he woke up a while ago… but please don't keep him too long, he probably has a terrible headache because of his new concussion and the stitches… but he'll be fine in about a week." The nurse informed and Alexandria thanked her, before practically running down the hall, not bothering to knock.

But Alexi stopped dead in the doorway when she saw Randy lying, or better half sitting, since the head of the bed was raised, in that hospital bed.

Somehow he just didn't belong in a hospital bed… and not in this green hospital gown. It was sort of a comical image and Alexi would have laughed had the situation not been so serious.

Instead she gently closed the door behind her and walked over to the bed and squeezed Randy's hand, kissing her boyfriend's cheek carefully.

"Hey handsome, how do you feel?" She questioned, sitting on the bed as soon as Randy had made a little room for her.

She winced when she finally really saw the thick bandage wrapped around his head and how pale Randy looked.

"My head is killing me… and I'm tired… probably because of the stuff the docs gave me… but I'll be back on my feet in no time…" He answered, squeezing Alexi's hand and pulling her a little closer.

"That's really good to hear… you had us all pretty worried…" Alexi gave back, about to wipe away another tear running down her cheek, but Randy beat her to it, his hand resting on Alexi's cheek for a second afterwards.

"I'm sorry… I really didn't mean to worry you, princess."

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault…" Alexandria stopped and looked at Randy, trying to read in his eyes.

"But Randy, how much do you remember of what happened?" She questioned, knowing from her own experience that it wasn't unusual to blend out such things.

Randy winced a little.

"Umm… enough… but Alexi I assure you that I don't have any feelings for Martha… I love only you. With all my heart. You have brought the happiness back into my life…" His words were so heartfelt and sincere that Alexi didn't doubt him for a second… if she was honest with herself, she'd never doubted him at all.

She smiled brightly at him and this time kissed him fully on the lips.

"I believe you… and don't worry, me and Martha will set Chris straight about this." She smirked and Randy, knowing that Alexandria had quite a mean streak to her and Martha could always threaten Chris with no sex, he actually felt sorry for Y2J.

He was about to say so, but Alexandria suddenly looked way too serious again and asked: "But Randy, why have you been to see Martha this often in the last days? Are you sick? Hurt? Please tell me… it's killing me that I don't know what's wrong with you and that I missed the whole point when your life started to go downhill…"

Once again tears overcame Alexandria… this whole day had made her pretty emotional.

Randy sighed and now pulled his girlfriend into his arms, letting her cry for a minute.

"Shh… Alexi… please… I can't bear it when you're crying and it's my fault." He tried, trying to ignore the pounding in his head.

"And you don't need to worry about me… as I said, I'll be okay in a few weeks. I've been to see Martha because an old injury broke up and she was keeping an eye on it."

Randy was glad that Alexi still had her head buried against his shoulder so he couldn't see his guilty expression.

The Legend Killer hated lying to his girlfriend but he just couldn't tell her about his past…

_//If she finds out that I tried to kill myself and that I let my father walk all over me when no one's watching, she'll be disgusted that I'm so weak and leave me… and I can't handle that…//_ This little voice in his head was constantly there and sounded suspiciously a lot like his father… and so far Randy had believed this voice, even though John had always tried to convince him otherwise.

Alexandria had calmed a little and separated from her boyfriend.

"Really?" She questioned, staring at Randy, who had his expression under control again.

But he had no idea how to answer that… he wouldn't be able to lie to Alexi while looking into her eyes.

Thankfully he didn't have to answer because there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" He called, not really up to anymore visitors, but curious who was outside.

"Randy? Can I come in? I really need to talk to you and a lot of people are outside, wanting to see you…" John's voice sounded from outside.

"Come in…" Randy called and looked at Alexi with a small smile, kissing her forehead.

"And you calm down, love. Everything will be alright… I promise…" He whispered, right before John entered the room.

He looked a little guilty, like Alexandria noted and she briefly wondered why.

"Hey Alexi, hey Randy…" John greeted them with a half-smile on his face, approaching the bed slowly.

Randy studied his best friend closely and immediately noted that something was up with John… something he wanted to tell him alone, so he looked at his girlfriend: "Um, Alexi, can you perhaps go and find a nurse or a doctor and ask them if they have something to eat for me?"

Alexandria was a little taken aback by that request but then she realized that Randy wanted a few minutes alone with his best friend.

"Sure thing, handsome." She replied and gave Randy a quick kiss on the cheek, before wiping away the last tears to look at least halfway presentable.

"I'll be back before you know it…" She smiled at John and Randy and then left the room.

.

* * *

.

As soon as the door closed behind Alexi, Randy looked at John.

"Okay, what's eating you? Beside me in a hospital?" The Legend Killer questioned in his no-nonsense-tone.

John sighed and forced himself to look Randy straight in the face when he said: "I told them about your suicide attempt… well… Chris, RVD, Hunter, Dhani and Adam… Dave, as you know, already knew…"

It took a moment for the words to register in Randy's brain but then his eyes widened in shock, before it settled into the stony mask, John knew all too well.

He winced a little at the icy tone of Randy's voice.

"You had no right, JC. You had no right to ruin my whole career. Or do you honestly think I can go back and face them now? Damn, you know this will spread like nothing in the WWE rumor mill… why did you tell them? I mean, once Vince gets word of this, he'll fire me and they'll all laugh at how weak I am…"

"Please, RKO, believe me, I didn't mean to. It just slipped when Chris accused you of having an affair with Martha… I just snapped…" John started apologizing before he got the whole meaning of Randy's words.

"What? Randy, nobody will think you're weak… because you're not weak, no matter what that asshole Bob Orton Jr. wants you to believe… and even though I sound like an actor in some chick flick, I'm going to tell you this: You're one of the strongest persons I know… you turned out such a great person despite, or maybe because of, everything you went through…"

If John wanted to say more, he didn't get the chance, because the door opened, to reveal a grinning Alexandria.

"Foot will be here soon, Randy… and look who I found…"

Before Randy or John could ask her to leave them alone for a few more minutes, the young woman stepped aside to reveal Cowboy Bob Orton, with the other Wrestlers hovering in the background.

John immediately tensed and his fists clenched at the expression on Bob's face. This man actually had the nerve to look concerned for his son's well being.

_//Well, probably mad that someone else but him has put Randy in hospital…//_ John thought sarcastically.

"Uh… hi Dad…" Randy stammered and John's eyes darted to his best friend again.

Randy looked so frightened and like that sixteen year old boy again and John's fury rose, but he tried to compose himself as best as he could.

"Hey son, I hope you are alright." Bob stepped into the room with a grin on his face.

"And I hope you weren't telling the doctors any fairytales…" He started and even though his face was all concern for his son, John could hear that undertone in his voice… he had always used it before using Randy as his personal punching bag.

"Um… no dad… you know I'd never do that…" Randy stuttered.

Bob smiled sweetly.

"I know… but sometimes you're just not the brightest kid I've ever known and we don't want them to get the wrong impression, do we?"

And that was when John finally snapped, all that anger he had bottled up those last year's coming out.

And before anyone could react, he threw himself at Bob Orton, knocking him down and started to punch whatever part of the older man he could reach and yelled, before he even realized what he was saying and doing: "You sick bastard… I should have done this years ago when I was hiding in that closet, watching you beating Randy to a bloody pulp… right before he slit his wrists to end it all…"

.

to be continued, if you're still interested…


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